OF  THE 
U  N  I  VLRS  ITY 
or   ILLI  NOIS 

from 

Carl  Sandburg's  Library 

V.2 


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sponsible for  its  return  on  or  before  the 
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UNIVERSITY  OF   ILLINOIS   LIBRARY  AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

MAR  10 

1971 

m  8 

1383 

m  1 

0  1383 

L161— O-1096 

Old  Time  Notes 
of  Pennsylvania 

A  Connected  and  Chronological  Record  of  the 
Commercial,  Industrial  and  Educational  Ad- 
vancement of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Inner 
History  of  all  Political  Movements  since  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  1838  

BY 

A.  K.  McClure,  LL.D. 

Illustrated  with  Portraits  of  over  one  hundred 
distinguished  men  of  Pennsylvania,  including 
all  the  Governors,  Senators,  Judges  of  the 
Courts  of  to-day,  leading  Statesmen,  Railroad 
Presidents,  Business  Men  and  others  of  note. 


VOLUME  II 


Autograph  Edition 

Philadelphia 
THE  JOHN  C.  WINSTON  COMPANY 
1905 


Copyright  1905. 

BY 

THE  JOHN  C.  WINSTON  CO. 


CONTENTS. 


LIV. — Randall  and  Wallace. 

PAGE 

The  Varied  Careers  of  the  Two  Great  Democratic  Leaders  in  Pennsyl- 
vania for  Nearly  a  Generation  —  Both  Were  Weakened  by  Lead- 
ing Opposing  Factions  Against  Each  Other  —  Leading  Charac- 
teristics of  the  Two  Men  —  Interesting  Incidents  of  Their  Factional 
Disputes  —  Wallace's  Last  Battle  and  Defeat  Closely  Followed 
Randall's   Death.  .;   17 

LV. — BucKALEW  Elected  U.  S.  Senator. 

Democrats  Elected  Their  State  Ticket  in  1862  and  One  Majority  on 
Joint  Ballot  in  the  Legislature  —  A  Bitter  Struggle  for  the  Senator- 
ship  —  Cameron  Claimed  the  Support  of  One  or  More  Democrats, 
and  Received  the  Republican  Nomination  —  Charles  R.  Buckalew 
Nominated  by  the  Democrats  —  Democratic  Apprehension  of  a 
Repetition  of  the  Lebo,  Maneer  and  Wagenseller  Defection  That 
Elected  Cameron  in  1857  —  Organized  Rioters  Crowded  the  Capitol 
and  Declared  That  Any  Democrat  who  Betrayed  His  Party  Would 
not  Leave  the  Hall  Alive  —  Open  Charge  of  Corruption  Made 
Against  Democratic  Representative  Boyer  —  Buckalew  Elected  by 
a  Strict  Party  Vote  —  His  Career  in  the  Senate   30 

LVI. — Curtin  Renominated  for  Governor. 

Curtin's  Broken  Health  Made  his  Retirement  an  Apparent  Neces- 
sity—  Curtin  Movement  to  Nominate  General  Franklin,  a  Loyal 
Democrat,  to  be  Supported  by  Both  Parties,  Rejected  by  the 
Democrats  —  Curtin  Tendered  a  First-Class  Mission  by  President 
Lincoln  to  Enable  Him  to  Retire  from  the  Contest  —  Interest- 
ing Interview  with  Lincoln  by  Cameron,  Forney  and  the  Author 
—  Republican  People  Refuse  to  Accept  his  Withdrawal,  and  a 
Number  of  the  Leading  Counties  Instructed  for  Him  —  He  Was 

Renominated  on  the  First  Ballot   41 

(v) 


vi 


Contents 


LVII. — CuRTiN  Re-elected  Governor. 

I 

Justice  George  W.  Woodward  Nominated  for  Governor  by  the  Demo- 
crats When  Lee  Was  Approaching  Gettysburg  —  From  the  Demo- 
cratic Standpoint  He  Was  Their  Strongest  Candidate  —  The 
Union  Victories  of  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  Decided  the  Con- 
test of  1863  —  Chairman  MacVeagh's  Adroit  Handling  of  the 
Soldier  Element  —  Soberness  of  Political  Discussion  in  1863  — 
Woodward  Defeated  and  Curtin  Re-elected  —  Woodward's  Dis- 
tinguished Career  

LVIII. — The  Great  Conscription  Battle. 

The  Complete  Story  of  the  Efforts  Made  to  Declare  the  National 
Conscription  Act  Unconstitutional  by  a  State  Court  —  Volunteer- 
ing Had  Ceased  and  Conscription  Was  the  Only  Hope  of  Filling 
the  Union  Armies  —  Proceedings  Instituted  at  Nisi  Prius  Before 
Judge  Woodward,  Who  Summoned  the  Entire  Court  to  Hear  and 
Decide  the  Important  Question  —  After  Exhaustive  Argument 
Decision  Delayed  Until  After  the  Election  —  The  Court,  by  Three 
to  Two,  Declared  the  Act  Unconstitutional  —  Chief  Justice  Lowrie 
Was  Defeated  by  Justice  Agnew  —  On  Final  Hearing  Justice 
Agnew,  Successor  to  Chief  Justice  Lowrie,  Reversed  Preliminary 
Hearing  and  Declared  the  Conscription  Act  Constitutional  

LIX. — ^Lee's  Invasion  a  Necessity. 

Hooker's  Brilliant  Strategy  in  Crossing  the  Rappahannock  to  Meet 
Lee  When  Hesitation  Lost  Him  the  Battle  —  The  Story  of 
Hooker's  Wounds  —  Great  Depression  Among  the  Loyal  People 
of  the  North  —  The  Blunder  of  the  Confederacy  —  The  Northern 
Invasion  Was  Enforced  with  a  Hope  of  Winning  a  Decisive  Vic- 
tory over  the  Union  Army,  and  Securing  the  Recognition  of  Eng- 
land and  France  

LX. — Maneuvering  for  the  Battle. 

Hooker's  Suggestions  Rejected  by  Lincoln  —  Hooker's  Strategy  De- 
feated Lee's  Movement  to  Cross  the  Potomac  near  Washington 
—  Meade  Suddenly  Called  to  Command  —  Large  Emergency  Force 
Called  to  the  Field  —  Severe  Discipline  of  Lee's  Army  —  Jenk- 


Contents  vii 

PAGE 

ins*s  Raid  into  Chambersburg  —  Ewell's  Requisition  for  Supplies 
Including  Sauerkraut  in  Midsummer  —  Lee's  Headquarters  at 
Shatter's   Grove   85 


LXI. — Lee  Defeated  at  Gettysburg. 

General  Lee  and  His  Leading  Lieutenants  in  Chambersburg — Per- 
sonal Description  of  General  Lee  —  Why  Lee  Moved  to  Gettys- 
burg—  Remarkable  Feats  of  Volunteer  Scouts  —  Stephen  W. 
Pomeroy  Gave  the  First  Word  of  Lee's  Movement  to  Gettysburg 

—  A  Week  of  Appalling  Anxiety  at  Harrisburg  and  Through- 
out the  State  —  Lee's  Retreat  from  Franklin  County  —  Intense 
Passions  That  Denied  Burial  to  a  Confederate  Soldier   96 

LXII. — Pennsylvania's  Lustrous  Record. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  Proclaimed  in  Pennsylvania  — 
Washington  Assigned  to  the  Command  of  the  Army  —  The  Con- 
stitution Framed  in  Carpenter's  Hall  with  Washington  Presiding 

—  Gettysburg,  the  Decisive  Battle  of  the  War,  Fought  in  the 
State  —  General  Meade  of  Pennsylvania  the  Victor  —  Reynolds 
Killed  and  Hancock  Seriously  Wounded  —  Gregg,  Another  Penn- 
sylvanian,  Fought  and  Won  the  Great  Cavalry  Battle  of  the  War 

—  How  Gettysburg  Was  Made  the  Battle  Ground  —  Why  Meade 
Did  Not  Pursue  Lee  —  Lincoln  Was  Disappointed   108 

LXIIL — The  Senate  Deadlock  in  1864. 

General  Harry  White,  a  Republican  Senator,  in  Libby  Prison,  Leav- 
ing the  Senate  with  Sixteen  Democrats  and  Sixteen  Republicans 
— All  Offers  for  White's  Exchange  Refused  by  the  Confederate 
Government  —  Speaker  Penny  Retained  the  Chair  —  The  Demo- 
cratic Senators  Refused  Him  Recognition  —  General  White's 
Father  Delivers  the  Senator's  Resignation  to  the  Governor  —  Dr. 
St.  Clair  Elected  at  a  Special  Election  Restoring  the  Republicans 
to  Authority  —  The  Movement  to  Care  for  the  Soldiers'  Orphans 

—  Curtin's  Extraordinary  Efforts  to  Give  it  Success  —  Violent 
Partisan  Legislation  Governing  Elections  in  the  Field  —  Jerrie 
McKibben,  One  of  Curtin's  Commissioners,  Imprisoned  by  Stanton 

—  The  Story  of  His  Release   120 


viii 


Contents 


LXIV. — How  Lincoln  Nominated  Johnson. 

PAGE 

The  Inner  Story  of  the  Sagacious  Political  Movements  Which  Nom- 
inated Andrew  Jackson  for  Vice-President  over  Hamlin  —  How 
Lincoln  Managed  to  Unite  Pennsylvania  for  Johnson  without  His 
Movements  Being  Known  —  Cameron  First  in  Lincoln's  Con- 
fidence to  Start  the  Johnson  Movement  —  A  Shade  of  Distrust 
Between  Lincoln  and  Cameron  —  Why  Lincoln  Forced  the  Author 
to  Become  a  Delegate-at-Large  to  the  National  Convention  — 
How  Cameron  and  the  Author  were  Elected  without  a  Contest 
—  The  Delegation  Finally  United  on  Johnson   133 

LXV. — Lincoln  Re-elected  President. 

Pennsylvania  Republicans  Heartily  United  in  Support  of  Lincoln  — 
Cameron  Made  Chairman  of  the  State  Committee  —  Severe  Re- 
publican Depression  During  the  Summer  of  1864  Because  of  the 
Failure  to  Achieve  Victory  in  the  Field  —  Lincoln  Predicts  His 
Own  Defeat  on  the  Twenty-third  of  August  in  a  Note  Sealed  and 
Delivered  to  Secretary  Welles  —  Pennsylvania  Faltered  in  Her 
Republicanism  at  the  October  Election  —  The  Author  Called  to 
Co-operate  with  Cameron  in  the  November  Battle  —  How  Penn- 
sylvania Was  Made  to  Vote  for  Lincoln  on  the  Home  Vote   146 

LXVI. — The  Burning  of  Chambersburg. 

Chambersburg  Destroyed  by  the  Brutal  Vandalism  of  Hunter  in  the 
Lynchburg  Campaign  —  Its  Destruction  Made  Possible  by  Hunter's 
Military  Incompetency  —  Reports  of  McCausland's  Movement 
from  Mercersburg  to  Chambersburg  —  The  Vandalism  of  Many 
Intoxicated  Confederates  While  the  Town  Was  Burning  —  A 
Heroic  Woman  Saves  One  of  the  Author's  Houses  and 
Barn  —  Chambersburg  Could  Have  Been  Fully  Protected  by  the 
State  Force  Organized  by  Governor  Curtin,  but  It  Was  Sent  to 
the  Potomac  to  Save  Hunter   158 

LXVII. — The  Border  War  Claims. 

James  McDowell  Sharpe  and  the  Author  Elected  to  the  House  to 
Secure  Appropriation  for  the  Desolated  Town  —  How  William 


Contents 


ix 


PAGE 

H.  Kemble  Became  State  Treasurer  —  Debate  on.  the  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution  Abolishing  Slavery  Forced  Sharpe  and  the 
Author  to  Participate  —  Sharpe's  Admirable  Speech  —  Why  the 
Relief  Bill  Failed  —  How  the  Appropriation  of  Half  a  Million 
Dollars  Was  Passed  a  Year  Later   170 

LXVIII. — The  Political  Struggle  of  1865. 

Chambersburg's  Midnight  Jubilee  over  the  Surrender  of  Lee  —  The 
Long  Strained  Border  People  Had  Peace  at  Last  —  Peculiar  Polit- 
ical Conditions  —  How  Cameron  Lost  His  Candidate  for  Auditor 
General  by  His  Struggle  to  Obtain  Control  of  the  Party  Organiza- 
tion—  Senator  Heistand  Defeated  When  He  Expected  a  Unan- 
imous Nomination — ^Hartranft  Suddenly  Forced  to  the  Front  — 
The  Organization  for  Chairmanship  of  the  Republican  State  Com- 
mittee Taken  from  the  President  of  the  Convention  by  Resolution 
of  Stevens  —  A  Sluggish  Battle  Resulting  in  the  Success  of  the 
Republican  Ticket   181 


LXIX. — Geary  Nominated  for  Governor. 

Cameron's  First  Complete  Control  of  the  Republican  Organization  of 
the  State  —  Geary  Bitterly  Opposed  by  Prominent  Republicans 
Because  He  Had  Been  Willing  to  Accept  the  Democratic  Nomina- 
tion —  Quay  and  Tom  Marshall  Among  the  Foremost  Belligerents 
—  Geary  Visits  the  Author  After  His  Nomination  —  All  Personal 
and  Factional  Interests  Forgotten  to  Elect  Geary  to  Rebuke 
President  Johnson's  Apostacy  —  Clymer,  the  Democratic  Candi- 
date, Made  a  Gallant  Struggle  and  Fell  in  the  Race  —  Interesting 
Sequel  to  Geary's  Pledges  to  the  Author   192 


LXX. — Cameron-Curtin  Senatorial  Battle. 

A  Majority  of  Republican  Senators  and  Representatives  Pledged  or 
Instructed  for  Curtin  —  Cameron  Adroitly  Combined  the  Can- 
didates to  Defeat  Quay,  Curtin's  Candidate  for  Speaker  —  Stevens, 
Moorehead,  Grow  and  Forney  in  the  Field  with  Cameron  — 
Governor  Geary  Aggressively  for  Cameron  —  Cameron  Finally 
Controlled  the  Majority  —  Quay,  After  a  Conference  with  the 
Younger  Cameron  and  Curtin,  Decided  to  Move  the  Unanimous 
Nomination  of  Cameron  After  He  Attained  a  Majority  —  Quay's 
First  Step  Toward  Affiliation  with  the  Camerons  —  Republicans 
Lose  the  State  in  1867   203 


Contents 


LXXI. — CuRTiN  Minister  to  Russia. 

PAGE 

Republican  State  Convention  of  1868  Overwhelmingly  Anti-Cam- 
eron —  Curtin  Presented  as  Pennsylvania's  Candidate  for  Vice- 
President —  The  Author  Chairman  of  the  Delegation  to  the 
National  Convention  —  How  Grant  Became  Republican  Candidate 
for  President  —  Colfax  Nominated  for  Vice-President  —  Why 
Wade  Lost  the  Nomination  —  Curtin  Pressed  for  the  Cabinet  — 
The  Author's  Interview  with  Grant  on  the  Subject  —  Curtin 
Made  Minister  to  Russia  213 


LXXII. — ^JoHN  Scott  Elected  Senator. 

The  Senatorial  Contest  Shrewdly  Managed  by  Colonel  Thomas:  A. 
Scott  —  When  the  Legislature  Met  No  Contest  for  Senator  De- 
veloped—  John  Scott  Unanimously  Nominated  —  Elected  by  the 
Solid  Vote  of  His  Party  —  Scott's  Creditable  Record  in  the 
Senate  —  Keeping  Within  Party  Lines  He  Followed  His  Own 
Convictions  — •  Curtin  Went  to  Russia  Knowing  that  It  was  Polit- 
ical Banishment  —  Honors  Showered  upon  Curtin  before  His 
Departure  •  •  224 


LXXIII. — The  Infamous  Registration  Law. 

The  Defeat  of  City  of  Philadelphia  Candidates  in  1868  Made  Mann 
Enforce  the  Enactment  of  the  Registry  Law  —  Wide  Open  Doors 
for  Fraud  under  Color  of  Law  —  The  Author's  Earnest  Protest 
Against  the  Movement  —  Mann  Regained  the  District  Attorney- 
ship Under  It  —  Interesting  Incidents  in  Halting  Fraud  at  a 
Special  Senatorial  Election   233 


LXXIV. — The  Reign  of  Shoddy. 

Sudden  Acquisition  of  Wealth  Brought  a  Tidal  Wave  of  Shoddy 
Ostentation  — Precious  Stones  Flashed  from  Gaudily  Dressed 
Shoddyites  — Bewildering  Extravagance  Became  Common  in 
Hospitality  — Ladies  of  Culture  Abandoned  the  Display  of  Jewels 
—  The  Gorgeous  and  Vulgar  Exhibition  of  Shoddy  at  the  Great 
Ball  Given  to  Grand  Duke  Alexis,  Son  of  the  Czar- The  Satur- 
day Evening  Club  Orzanized  to  Halt  the  Shoddy  Display  of 
Profligacy  in  Entertainments  —  Political  Demoralization  Followed 


Contents  xi 

PAGE 

the  New  Social  Eruption  —  The  Inevitable  Revolution  Came,  and 
Many  Shoddyites  Died  in  Poverty   244 


LXXV.— Robert  W.  Mackey. 

The  Ablest  All-Around  Republican  Leader  of  Pennsylvania  —  Quay 
His  Promising  Lieutenant  —  How  Quay  Made  Mackey  State 
Treasurer  —  Mackey  the  Master  Leader  of  the  Party  for  a  Full 
Decade  —  His  Method  of  Controlling  Conventions  and  Legislators 
—  His  Close  Relations  with  Both  Wallace  and  Randall  —  How 
He  Saved  the  Electoral  Vote  of  Florida  for  Hayes  —  Mackey 
Saved  Wallace  in  His  Contest  for  Senator  —  How  He  Defeated 
Fusion  and  Elected  Hoyt  Governor   255 


LXXVI. — Geary  Re-elected  Governor. 

The  Curtin  Element  Decided  to  Defeat  Geary  Because  the  Whole 
Power  of  His  Administration  Had  Been  Directed  to  Overthrow 
Curtin  —  Chairman  Covode's  Conference  with  Mann  and  the 
Author  —  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster  Retired  from  Attorney  Gen- 
eralship—  F.  Carroll  Brewster  Appointed  —  This  Change  Saved 
Geary's  Election  —  How  the  Border  Relief  Bill  Made  a  Judge  — 
Brewster  and  the  Author  Become  Close  Friends   268 


LXXVII. — The  Advent  of  Negro  Suffrage. 

Negroes  Vote  in  1871  under  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  —  Large  Re- 
publican Element  Opposed  Suffrage  for  the  Black  Man  —  Demo- 
cratic Activity  Quickened  by  the  Issue  —  Colonel  Mann  Re-elected 
District  Attorney  —  Bitter  Feeling  in  the  Sections  of  the  City 
Where  There  Was  a  Large  Negro  Vote  —  Murderous  Riots  on 
Election  Day,  and  Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon  Murdered  on  the 
Streets  —  None  of  the  Offenders  ever  Brought  to  Justice  —  Im- 
mense Public  Meeting  Called  for  the  Conviction  of  the  Murderers 
—  How  the  Negro  Vote  Was  Demoralized   279 


LXXVIII. — The  McClure-Gray  Senatorial  Contest. 

Serious  Revolt  Against  the  Methods  of  the  Grant  Administration 
—  Death  of  Senator  Connell  Made  a  Special  Senatorial  Election  in 
January,  1872  —  Republican  Leaders  Tendered  the  Place  to  the 
Author,  But  with  Conditions  That  Could  Not  Be  Accepted  — 


Contents 


PAGE 

Interposition  of  President  Grant  Led  to  the  Author's  Final  Ac- 
ceptance of  the  Candidacy  —  Colonel  Scott  Dined  with  President 
Grant  and  Cameron  and  Urged  to  Force  the  Author  to  Retire 
from  the  Contest  —  A  Tempestuous  Political  Struggle  of  Ten 
Days  —  Nineteenth  Ward  Rounders  Decide  That  the  McQure 
Meeting  Should  Not  Be  Held  — How  They  Were  Finally  Per- 
suaded to  Peace   290 


LXXIX. — The  Contested  Senatorial  Election  of  1872. 

The  Author  Returned  as  Defeated  by  891  Majority — Protracted 
Struggle  to  Get  a  Petition  for  Contest  before  the  Senate  —  Inter- 
esting Incidents  of  the  Struggle  —  A  Special  Law  Enacted  to  Try 
the  Case  —  Plan  of  Leaders  to  Draw  a  Set-up  Committee  — 
Clerk  Hammersley  Refuses  to  Do  It,  and  Informs  the  Author  — 
A  Democratic  Committee  Obtained  —  Appalling  Fraud  Developed 
in  the  Trial  of  the  Contest  —  Jail  Birds  Hired  to  Swear  Falsely 
That  They  Had  Repeated  for  McClure  —  Colonel  Gray  Acquits 
Himself  of  the  Frauds   302 


I.XXX. — Grand  Jurors  Protect  Ballot  Thieves. 

Interesting  Story  of  the  Failure  to  Bring  to  Trial  Parties  Guilty  of 
Open  and  Violent  Frauds  —  District  Attorney  Mann's  Honest 
Effort  to  Convict  Two  of  the  Guilty  Parties  —  Two  Grand  Juries 
Set  Up  to  Ignore  All  Bills  —  The  Prosecution  Delayed  for  One 
Term  Hoping  to  Get  a  Better  Jury  —  The  Next  Jury  Worse  Than 
the  Last,  and  the  Author  Forced  the  Prosecutions,  Knowing  That 
the  Bills  Would  be  Ignored  —  The  Testimony  Taken  before  the 
Magistrate  That  Had  Been  Given  to  the  Grand  Jury  Presented  to 
the  Court  —  Court  Remands  the  Bill  Back  to  the  Grand  Jury  — 
The  Bills  Held  Until  the  Last  Day  and  Then  Again  Ignored  — 
Henry  C  Lea  Renewed  the  Prosecution,  and  the  Next  Grand  Jury 
Ignored  the  Bill  and  Made  Him  Pay  the  Cost  —  Struggle  in  the 
Senate  for  a  Better  Election  Law  —  The  Party  Leaders  Decided 
to  Have  No  Discussion  in  the  Senate,  and  the  Author's  Bill 
Passed  Unanimously  —  How  Senator  White  Was  Brought  to 
Renew  the  Battle,  and  How  the  New  Election  Law  Was  Finally 
Enacted   3^5 


Contents 


xiii 


LXXXI. — The  Grant-Greeley  Contest. 

PAGE 

Grant's  Special  Efforts  to  Harmonize  the  Curtin  Elements  in  Penn- 
sylvania —  The  Author  Twice  Urged  to  Visit  Grant  with  a  View 
of  Harmonizing  the  Party  on  a  New  Cabinet  Appointment  — 
Organization  of  the  Liberal  Republican  Movement  in  the  State 

—  The  Author  Chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  and  of  the 
Delegation  to  the  Cincinnati  Convention  —  Greeley's  Visit  to 
Philadelphia  to  Secure  the  Support  of  the  Delegation  for  Presi- 
dent—  Final  Agreement  on  Davis  for  President  with  Greeley 
for  Vice-President  —  The  Brief  Greeley  Tidal  Wave  —  Business 
Interests  Aroused  and  Suddenly  Halted  It  —  The  Sad  End  of  the 
Life  of  the  Great  Philanthropist   327 

LXXXIL — Democrats  Nominate  Curtin. 

Peculiar  Political  Complications  in  the  Contest  of  1872  —  The  Evans 
Scandal  —  Some  $300,000  Awarded  a  Clerk  for  Collecting  Govern- 
ment Qaims  —  Investigation  Moved  in  the  Senate  —  How  It 
Ended  —  Hartranft  and  Buckalew  Nominated  for  Governor  by 
Their  Respective  Parties — ^  Curtin  Nominated  by  the  Liberal  Re- 
publicans for  the  Constitutional  Convention  —  Governor  Bigler 
Retired  from  Democratic  Ticket,  and  Curtin  Taken  in  His  Place 

—  State  Contest  Unusually  Desperate  —  Leaders  Would  Have 
Withdrawn  Hartranft  But  for  the  Younger  Cameron  —  Geary 
Forced  to  Grant  Pardon  to  Yerkes  and  Marcer  —  Attempt  of 
the  Roosters  to  Make  Cameron  Pay  for  His  Re-election  —  How 
the  Governor's  Salary  Was  Increased  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  340 

LXXXIII. — The  Constitution  of  1874  Adopted. 

Desperate  Efforts  Made  to  Defeat  Its  Approval  by  the  People  — 
Mayor  Stokley  Halts  a  Stupendous  Fraud  in  Philadelphia  When 
It  Was  Found  to  be  Unavailing  —  Earnest  Legislative  Work  to 
Carry  Into  Effect  the  New  Fundamental  Law  — A  New  Liberal 
Salary  Bill  for  City  Officers  Vetoed  without  Benefit  to  Those 
Who  Accomplished  It  —  Ballot  Reform  Accomplished,  and  Many 
Machine  Leaders  Overthrown    352 


xiv 


Contents 


LXXXIV. — ^The  Stokley-McClure  Mayoralty  Battle. 

PAGE 

Formidable  Revolt  Against  Stokley's  Administration  —  The  Author 
Peremptorily  Declines  to  Become  a  Candidate  for  Mayor  —  James 
S.  Biddle  Nominated  by  the  Democrats,  but  soon  Thereafter 
Declined —  Democrats  and  Citizens  Nominate  the  Author  without 
Consulting  Him  —  His  Acceptance  Seemed  to  Be  an  Imperious 
Necessity  —  Remarkable  Galaxy  of  Republican  Leaders  Who  Sup- 
ported Him  —  Interesting  Episodes  of  the  Campaign  —  The 
Author  Advised  Four  Days  before  the  Election  of  the  Majority 
that  would  be  Returned  Aaginst  Him  —  Stokley  Returned  Elected 
by  over  10,000  Majority  ,   363 


LXXXV. — Battle  for  the  Great  Exposition. 

Party  Leaders  Made  the  Issue  of  the  Republican  Centennial  Mayor 
the  Prominent  One  in  the  Contest  —  Democrats  in  the  Legis- 
lature Provoked  to  Hostile  Action  against  the  Centennial  Appro- 
priation —  A  Direct  Appropriation  Impossible  —  How  an  Ap- 
parent Appropriation  of  a  Million  Dollars  Had  Been  Passed  in 
1873  —  The  Desperate  Struggle  to  Obtain  the  Million  Dollars 
Needed  —  Finally  Saved  by  the  Positive  Intervention  of  Colonel 
Scott  — The  Financial  Revulsion  Keenly  Felt  and  Private  Sub- 
scriptions  Retarded   376 


LXXXVI. — Wallace  Elected  U.  S.  Senator. 

Republicans  Lose  the  State  at  the  First  Election  under  the  New  Con- 
stitution—  Wallace  Carefully  Organized  the  Democrats,  and  had 
a  Large  Majority  of  Friends  in  the  Legislature  —  Nominated  for 
United  States  Senator  with  But  Few  Dissenting  Votes  —  Buckalew 
Hostile  to  Wallace,  and  Controlled  Enough  Votes  to  Defeat  Him 
—  Buckalew's  Attempt  to  Deal  with  Mackey  —  Mackey  Saves 
Wallace  387 


LXXXVIL— The  Philadelphia  "Times." 

The  Author  First  Purchased  the  Press  from  Colonel  Forney  — Con- 
tract Revoked  — How  the  Times  Was  Founded  —  Personal 
Friends  Take  a  Fourth  Interest  for  the  Author  —  Collins  Gives 


Contents 


XV 


Instructions  to  the  Editor  —  Final  Success  of  the  Newspaper  — 
How  the  Original  Partners  Protected  Collins  in  His  Misfortune 

—  Independent  Journalism  a  Surprise  to  Philadelphia  —  Liberal 
Return  to  the  Stockholders  of  the  Newspaper  —  Personal  Rela- 
tions of  the  Author  with  Political  Leaders   398 

LXXXVIII. — Venality  in  Legislation. 

Corruption  of  Legislators  Practically  Unknown  until  Half  a  Century 
Ago  —  The  Original  Old  Time  Lobbyist  Who  Never  Debauched 
Legislators  —  The  Struggle  Between  Ignorance  and  Prejudice  on 
the  One  Side,  and  Progressive  Elements  of  the  State  Looking 
to  the  Development  of  Wealth,  Gave  Importance  to  Venal  In- 
fluences—  The  First  Open  Debauch  in  the  Senatorial  Contest 
of  1855  —  Again  Visible  in  1858  in  the  Sale  of  State  Canals  to  the 
Sunbury  and  Erie  Railroad  —  War  Brought  Demoralization  and 
Quickened  Venality  —  Many  Sternly  Honest  Legislators  Sup- 
ported Measures  They  Knew  to  be  Corrupt  —  Venality  Largely 
Ruled  in  Legislation  until  the  Adoption  of  the  New  Constitution 

—  Political   Power  Largely  Ruled  Legislation,  But  Diminished 
Individual  Prostitution   410 

LXXXIX. — Hartranft  Re-elected. 

Mackey  and  Quay  Take  Early  and  Vigorous  Action  to  Retrieve  the 
Defeat  of  1874  —  They  Perfect  the  Republican  Organization  — 
Obtain  Absolute  Control  of  the  Greenback  and  Labor  Organiza- 
tions —  Greenback  Sentiment  Very  Formidable  in  the  State  — 
Hartranft  Unanimously  Renominated  —  A  Protracted  Contest 
for  the  Democratic  Nomination  —  Judge  Pershing  Finally  Chosen 

—  The  Labor  and  Greenback  Parties  Held  from  Fusion  by  Re- 
publican Leaders,  and  That  Elected  Hartranft  by  12,000  Plurality 

—  The  Democrats  Carried  the  Popular  Branch  of  the  Legislature 

—  Hartranft's  Creditable  Career  as  Governor  —  Later  Collector 
of  the  Port  and  Postmaster  —  Finally  Suffered  Financial  Disaster, 
and  Made  Earnest  but  Unavailing  Efforts  to  Save  His  Friends . . .  422 

XC. — The  Molly  Maguire  Murderers. 

The  Most  Appalling  Chapter  of  Crime  Ever  Recorded  in  the  Annals  of 
Pennsylvania  —  History  of  the  Molly  Maguire  Organization  — 
The  Outgrowth  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  —  Its  Crim- 


xvi 


Contents 


inal  Methods  —  Offensive  Mining  Bosses  and  Operators  Murdered 
in  Open  Day  —  Political  Power  Contracted  for  Protection  to 
Criminals  —  The  Wonderful  Story  of  James  McParlan  as  De- 
tective Inside  the  Order  —  Gowan's  Masterly  Ability  in  Conduct- 
ing Prosecutions  —  Sixteen  Molly  Maguires  Executed  —  Many 
Others  Imprisoned,  and  a  Dozen  or  More  Fugitives  from  Justice. .  429 


XCL — National  Battle  of  1876. 

Republicans  Had  Not  Recovered  from  the  Overwhelming  Defeat  of 
1874  —  Democrats  Held  the  House  Most  of  the  Time  for  Twenty 
Years  —  Tilden  Nominated  for  President  —  His  Strength  and 
Personal  Attributes  —  Receives  a  Large  Popular  Majority  for 
President  —  John  1.  Mitchell  Brought  to  the  Front — Nominated 
for  Congress  to  Defeat  Strang  —  Senatorial  Deadlock  of  1881 
Made  Him  United  States  Senator  —  Advised  of  His  Selection 
by  the  Author  in  Washington  —  Made  President  Judge  and 
Later  Superior  Judge  —  Retired  for  Physical  and  Mental  Dis- 
ability 441 


XCII. — Anarchy  Ruled  in  1877. 

The  Darkest  Year  in  the  History  of  Pennsylvania  —  Culmination  of 
the  Revulsion  of  1873  —  Business  Depressed  and  Working  Men 
Without  Bread  —  Anarchy  First  Asserted  Its  Mastery  in  Pitts- 
burg by  Destroying  Several  Millions  of  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Property  —  Took  Possession  of  All  the  Railroads  of  the  State, 
and  Generally  Throughout  the  Country  —  Governor  Hartranft 
Absent  in  the  West  — Adjutant  General  Latta  Rendered  Timely 
and  Heroic  Service  —  Appalling  Condition  in  Philadelphia  — 
Mayor  Stokley  Calls  for  a  Committee  of  Safety  — The  Author  a 
Member  — Interesting  Incidents  in  Preserving  Peace  in  the  City 
—  Stokley's  Magnificent  Administration  to  Preserve  Peace  — 
Exceptional  Military  Service  Rendered  by  Col.  Bonnaffon's  Regi- 
ment 453 

XCIIL— The  Great  Oil  Development. 

The  Humble  Beginning  of  a  Trade  that  has  Risen  to  Hundreds  of 
Millions— Professor  Silliman's  Chemical  Investigation  of  Petro- 
leum—Colonel E.  L.  Drake  Sank  the  First  Oil  Well  — His 
Difficulty  in  Raising  One  Thousand  Dollars  to  Start  the  Oil  De- 


Contents 


xvii 


velopment  —  He  was  More  than  a  Year  in  Getting  His  Well 
Completed  —  Representative  Rouse  Regarded  as  a  Hopeless  Crank 
by  his  Fellow  Legislators  in  1859  —  The  Tidal  Wave  of  Specula- 
tion in  Oil  Companies,  Resulting  in  Sweeping  Disaster  —  Des- 
perate Battles  of  the  Oil  Men  to  Reach  Markets  —  The  Annual 
Oil  Product  Now  Over  One  Hundred  Million  Barrels  —  At  First 
Worth  Twenty  Dollars  a  Barrel;  now  Worth  One  Dollar  or 
Less   465 

XCIV. — James  Donald  Cameron. 

Became  Prominent  National  Political  Leader  in  1876  —  Member  of 
the  Grant  Cabinet  —  He  Forced  the  Struggle  that  Made  Hayes 
President  After  an  Overwhelming  Popular  Defeat  —  Hayes  Re- 
jected Cameron  for  a  Cabinet  Office  —  His  Father  Resigned  His 
Place  in  the  Senate  and  the  Younger  Cameron  Elected  —  Cam- 
eron Power  Supreme  in  Pennsylvania  Authority — ^Both  the  Cam- 
erons  Four  Times  Elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  —  How 
Governor  Pattison  and  Secretary  Harrity  Saved  Cameron's  Fourth 
Election  in  1891  —  Marvelous  Record  of  Political  Achievement 
by  the  Two  Camerons  in  Pennsylvania  —  The  Younger  Cameron's 
Dominating  Influence  in  Tranquillizing  South  Carolina  and  Other 
Southern  States  —  His  Personal  Attributes  475 

XCV. — HoYT  Elected  Governor. 

The  Democratic  Victory  of  1877  —  How  Trunkey  was  Made  Supreme 
Judge  —  Trunkey  Defeats  the  Late  Chief  Justice  Sterrett — Patti- 
son's  First  Victory  by  Election  to  the  Controllership  —  Quay  and 
Mackey  Reform  Their  Lines  for  the  Election  of  Hoyt  —  Notable 
Contest  for  Supreme  Judge  Between  Chief  Justice  Agnew  and 
Judge  Sterrett  —  Quay  Side-tracks  the  Greenback  Party  Against 
Fusion,  Then  Declares  for  Sound  Money  —  Hoyt  Elected  by 
22,000  Plurality  with  Over  80,000  Greenback  Votes  Side-tracked  — 
Death  of  Mackey,  Leaving  Quay  Supreme  Party  Leader  487 

XCVL — Political  Events  of  1878-9. 

Quay  Makes  Himself  Recorder  of  Philadelphia  with  Large  Com- 
pensation—  Locates  in  Philadelphia  at  Eleventh  and  Spruce  — 
Chairman  of  Republican  State  Committee  —  Succeeded  by  David 
H.  Lane  as  Recorder —   The  Office  Finally  Abolished  —  Quay 


xviii 


Contents 


Becomes  Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth  Under  Hoyt  —  The 
Pittsburg  Four  Million  Riot  Bill  —  Defeated  After  a  Bitter  Con- 
test—  Convictions  Followed  for  Legislative  Venality  —  Quay 
Nominates  Butler  for  State  Treasurer  —  Serious  Hitch  When 
Butler  Assumed  the  Office  —  How  the  Treasury  Deficit  was  Cov- 
ered —  Cameron  and  Quay  Make  Earnest  Battle  for  Grant's 
Nomination  for  a  Third  Term   498 


XCVIL — Political  Events  of  1880. 

Quay  and  Cameron  Call  Early  State  Convention,  and  Declare  in  Favor 
of  Grant  for  a  Third  Term  —  Cameron  Chairman  of  National 
Committee  —  Ruled  Strongly  in  Favor  of  Grant  in  Preliminary 
Proceedings  —  Reluctant  Support  Given  to  Garfield  —  Blaine's 
Appointment  as  Premier  Offensive  to  Quay  and  Cameron  —  State 
Offices  Filled  at  the  Election  —  Memorable  Speeches  in  National 
Conventions  by  Ingersoll,  Conkling  and  Dougherty   509 


XCVIII. — Senatorial  Battle  of  1881. 

Galusha  A.  Grow  Made  an  Active  Canvass  for  Senator  —  Henry  W. 
Oliver  the  Organization  Candidate  —  Serious  Revolt  Against 
Quay-Cameron  Rule  —  Forty-seven  Republican  Legislators  An- 
nounce Their  Refusal  to  Enter  the  Caucus  —  Oliver  Nominated 
on  Second  Ballot  —  Received  a  Majority  of  the  Entire  Republican 
Vote  of  the  Legislature  —  Senator  John  Stewart  Leader  of  the 
Revolt  —  Oliver  Withdrew  and  General  Beaver  was  Made  Organ- 
ization Candidate  —  February  23d  Both  Factions  United  on  Con- 
gressman John  L  Mitchell  —  He  Received  the  Full  Republican 
Vote  and  Was  Elected  —  Wolfe,  Independent  Candidate  for 
Treasurer    520 


XCIX. — Pattison  Elected  Governor. 

The  Independent  Republican  Revolt  —  Davies  Defeated  for  State 
Treasurer  — This  Led  to  Full  Independent  State  Ticket  in  1882  — 
Futile  Offers  of  Compromise  —  Pattison  Nominated  for  Govern- 
or by  the  Democrats  —  Senator  John  Stewart  as  the  Independent 
Leader  — Character  of  the  Campaign  — The  Democratic  Ticket 
Elected  by  Independent  Republican  Votes   53^ 


Contents 


xix 


C. — Governor  Pattison's  First  Term. 

PAGE 

An  Administration  of  Both  Successes  and  Failures  —  Appoints  Lewis 
C.  Cassidy  Attorney  General  —  Pattison  Assailed  on  Account  of 
Cassidy  —  Attacks  that  Forced  Cassidy  to  Accept  —  A  Legis- 
lature Divided  Against  Itself  —  Futile  Efforts  at  Reapportionment 
of  the  State  —  Except  as  to  the  Judiciary  —  An  Extra  Session  of 
the  Legislature  —  The  Governor  Became  Unpopular  on  Account 
of  This  Session  —  How  He  Lost  His  Mastery  of  the  State  — 
The  Election  of  1884  —  Pennsylvania  Heavily  Republican,  though 
Cleveland  Elected  President   542 

CI. — The  Great  Steel  Industry. 

Steel  Was  Used  Wholly  for  Edge  Tools  a  Generation  Ago  —  Struc- 
tural Steel  Practically  Unknown  and  Steel  Unthought  of  for  Rail- 
ways —  Disston  Developed  American  Steel  for  His  Saw  Works ; 
for  Many  Years  Had  to  Stamp  Them  as  English  —  America  Now 
Produces  the  Finest  Steel  in  the  World  —  Colonel  Wright's  View 
of  the  Helplessness  of  the  South  —  Believed  War  Impossible  in 
1861  Because  the  South  Could  Not  Tire  a  Locomotive  —  Advent 
of  Andrew  Carnegie  —  Started  at  Five  Dollars  a  Week  Under 
Colonel  Scott  —  Became  the  Great  Genius  of  the  Steel  Trade  — 
Raised  Up  Half  a  Score  or  More  of  Multi-Millionaires  —  He  Is 
Now  Among  the  Half-score  of  Richest  Private  Citizens  in  the 
World  —  His  Gifts  of  Millions  to  Libraries  and  Education  —  His 
Thorough  Self-reliance  —  He  Alone  Directed  the  Movements 
Against  the  Great  Homestead  Strike  of  1884  —  The  Monuments 
Reared  by  Scott  and  Carnegie   553 

GIL — Quay  Elected  Senator. 

Quay's  Senatorial  Battle  Begun  in  1885  —  His  Earlier  Political  Re- 
lations and  How  He  Stood  toward  Senator  J.  D.  Cameron  — 
Quay's  Candidacy  for  State  Treasurer  —  His  Turning  Down  of 
McDevitt  of  Lancaster  —  His  Cleverly  Managed  Campaign  and 
Election  — The  State  Battle  of  1886  — General  Beaver,  Who  Had 
Been  Defeated  in  1882,  Easily  Chosen  Governor  —  Quay  Before 
the  Legislature  of  1887  —  Triumphantly  Chosen  as  U.  S.  Senator 
—  Soon  Becomes  a  Great  National  Leader  —  His  Relations  to 
Blaine  —  State  Offices  Filled  in  1888  —  How  a  Democrat  Reached 
the  Supreme  Bench  —  The  National  Campaign  of  1888   558 


XX 


Contents 


cm. — Quay  and  Wanamaker. 

PAGE 

Aftermath  of  the  1888  Election  —  How  Wanamaker  Became  a  Great 
Political  Factor  —  Personal  Choice  of  President  Harrison  for 
Postmaster  General  —  Appointment  Distasteful  to  Cameron  and 
Quay  —  His  Masterly  Administration  —  He  Acquires  Powerful 
Influence  in  State  Politics  —  The  Contest  for  Governor  in  1890 

—  Delamater  Made  the  Republican  Nominee  —  Pattison  Renom- 
inated by  the  Democrats  —  Ex-Senator  Wallace  and  W.  U.  Hensel 

—  Hensel's  Important  Position  —  Pattison  Re-elected  —  Harrity 
and  Hensel  in  Pattison's  Cabinet —  J.  D.  Cameron  Re-elected  to 
His  Last  Term  in  the  Senate  —  The  Bardsley  Defalcation  — 
How  Quay  Counteracted  Its  Effects   570 

CIV. — Pennsylvania  Politics,  i 892-1 895. 

Quay  and  Cameron  not  Heartily  for  Harrison  —  But  He  Was  Re- 
nominated —  Cleveland  a  Presidential  Candidate  for  the  Third 
Time  —  Tammany's  Intense  Opposition  to  Him  —  Local  Penn- 
sylvania Interests  —  Quay's  Second  Election  as  U.  S.  Senator  — 
General  Hastings  Elected  Governor  in  1894  —  His  Relations  with 
Quay  not  Very  Cordial  —  Democratic  Opposition  not  Formidable 

—  Old-Timers  Recalled  to  Public  Life,  Especially  Galusha  A. 
Grow  —  Governor  Hastings  and  the  State  Committee  —  Organized 
Action  Against  Quay  in  Philadelphia  —  Penrose  Sacrificed  for 
Mayor  —  Creation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Superior  Court  583 

CV. — Wanamaker  versus  Quay. 

Wanamaker's  Ambition  to  Be  U.  S.  Senator  —  Aspiration  Hopeless 
Without  Quay's  Aid  —  Negotiating  With  Quay  — An  Agreement 
Reached  — How  a  Rupture  Came  — Wanamaker  as  an  Open, 
Aggressive  Candidate  —  The  Contest  for  the  Party  Nomination  — 
Penrose  Nominated  and  Elected  — The  National  Politics  of  1896 

—  Gubernatorial  Battle  of  1898  — Quay  Forced  to  Accept  William 
A.  Stone  as  Candidate —  The  Wanamaker  Opposition  of  That 
Campaign  — The  Battle  Fought  in  the  Legislative  Districts  — 
Quay  Prosecuted  for  Misappropriating  State  Funds  — Fight  for 
U.  S.  Senator  in  the  Legislature  —  The  Famous  Deadlock  of  1899 

—  Quay  Acquitted  in  Criminal  Trial  and  Appointed  U.  S.  Senator 

by  Governor  Stone  595 


Contents 


CVI. — Quay  Re-elected  U.  S.  Senator. 

PAGE 

The  McCarrell  Bill  of  1899  and  the  Quay  Trial  —  Democrats  Divided 
by  Bryanism  —  A  Faction  of  Them  for  Quay  —  Quay  Appointed 
Senator  by  the  Governor,  but  the  Senate  Refused  to  Admit 
Him  —  The  Grounds  for  His  Exclusion  —  A  Memorable  Political 
Controversy — Senator  Hanna's  Position  —  A  Great  Humiliation 
to  Quay  —  The  State  Convention  and  the  Quay  Battle  in  1900 
—  Wanamaker  in  State  Politics  —  Overwhelming  Republican 
Triumph  —  Quay  Re-elected  by  the  Legislature  of  1901  —  A 
Famous  Declaration  by  Him  —  Death  Ends  His  Career  Before  His 
Term    Expires   608 


CVIL — Republican  Revolt  in  1901. 

Political  conditions  in  Philadelphia  started  an  Aggressive  Revolt  — 
Rothermel  Rejected  by  the  Party  Leaders  Because  Fugitives, 
Charged  With  Political  Crimes,  Could  Not  Return  While  He 
Prosecuted  —  Formation  of  the  Union  Party  —  Judge  Yerkes, 
Democratic  Candidate  for  Supreme  Judge,  Endorsed  by  the  Union 
Republicans,  and  Representative  Coray  Nominated  for  State 
Treasurer  —  The  Violent  Contest  in  the  City — Colossal  Frauds 
Practised  in  Philadelphia  —  Rothermel  Returned  as  Defeated  — 
Potter  and  Harris  Elected  by  a  Large  Majority  —  The  Revolt  of 
1901  Made  Quay  Crucify  Attorney  General  Elkin  and  Nominate 
Pennypacker  for  Governor   621 


CVIII. — After  Quay  the  Deluge. 

Quay  Died  Just  in  the  Omnipotence  of  His  Political  Power  —  His 
Death  Developed  Antagonistic  Party  Elements  —  The  Struggle  for 
United  States  Senator  —  Offered  to  Ex-Senator  Cameron,  Who 
Suggested  A.ttorney  General  Knox  —  All  finally  Agreed  to  Sup- 
port Knox,  and  the  Governor  Withheld  Proclamation  for  Extra 
Session  —  Knox  First  Appointed  and  Then  Elected  by  Unani- 
mous Republican  Vote  —  Revolution  Developed  in  Philadelphia 
—  Estrangement  of  Mayor  and  Party  Leaders  —  Independent 
Ticket  Elected  in  the  City  —  Democratic  State  Treasurer  Elected 
by  Over  Eighty-eight  Thousand  —  Comparative  Vote  of  1904  and 
1905  —  Justice  Stewart  Received  a  Unanimous  Vote  625 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Volume  II 


JAMES  G.  BLAINE  Frontispiece 

State  Legislator,  Congressman,  United  States  Sen- 
ator, Secretary  of  State  and  Candidate  for  Presi- 
dent in  1884. 


FACING  PAGE 


SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL   24 

State  Senator,  Congressman,  Speaker  and  Father  of 
the  House,  following  William  D.  Kelley,  and  died 
as  such  in  1890. 

CHARLES  R.  BUCKALEW   32 

State  Senator,  United  States  Senator,  Congressman 
and  Candidate  for  Governor. 

GEORGE  W.  WOODWARD   56 

Common  Pleas  Judge,  Supreme  Judge,  Chief  Justice 
and  Congressman. 

SUPREME  COURT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.  64 
SUPERIOR  COURT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA .  80 

GENERAL  GEORGE  G.  MEADE   96 

Commander  of  Union  Army  in  Decisive  Battle  of 
tlie  War,  Gettysburg,  July  1-3.  1863:  died  1872. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

GENERAL  JOHN  F.  REYNOLDS   112 

Opened  Battle  of  Gettysburg  and  Killed  on  the 
Field,  July  i,  1863. 

GENERAL  DAVID  M.  GREGG   116 

Major-General  Cavalry,  Defeated  Stewart  at  Gettys- 
burg. 

HARRY  WHITE   120 

State  Senator.  Prisoner  in  Libby  and  Anderson- 
ville  for  a  Year.  Congressman.  Common  Pleas 
Judge. 

WILLIAM  D.  KELLEY   152 

Common  Pleas  Judge,  Congressman,  Father  of  the 
House;  died  1890. 

J.  McDOWALL  SHARP   176 

State  Representative  and  Member  of  Constitutional 
Convention,  1873-4. 

JOHN  CESSNA   184 

State  Representative,  Speaker  and  Congressman. 

THOMAS  M.  MARSHALL   192 

Aggressive  Campaigner  Who  Never  Accepted 
Office. 

JOHN  SCOTT   224 

State  Member  of  Legislature  and  United  States 
Senator. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

ROBERT  W.  MACKEY   256 

State  Treasurer  and  Great  Party  Leader. 

BENJAMIN  HARRIS  BREWSTER   272 

Attorney-General    of    Pennsylvania,    and    of  the 
United  States. 

NEW  STATE  CAPITOL  BUILDING   296 

HENRY  W.  GRAY   304 

Candidate  for  Senator  at  Special  Election  of  1872; 
Memorable  Contest  for  His  Seat. 

HENRY  C.LEA   320 

Prominent  Philadelphia  Publisher,  and  One  of  the 
Earliest  Reform  Leaders. 

WILLIAM  H.  ARMSTRONG   352 

State  Representative,  Congressman  and  National 
Commissioner  of  Railroads. 

WILLIAM  S.  STOKLEY   368 

City  Councilman,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  1870-79; 
Director  of  Public  Safety,  1887-91. 

JOHN  WELSH   384 

President  of  Centennial  Exhibition  and  Minister  to 
England,  1877-79. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

WILLIAM  A.  WALLACE  392 

State  Senator,  United  States  Senator. 

FRANK  MCLAUGHLIN  400 

Founder  and  Publisher  of  "  The  Philadelphia 
Times." 

CYRUS  L.  PERSHING   430 

State  Representative,  President  Judge  Who  Con- 
victed "  Molly  Maguires." 

JOHN  I.  MITCHELL   441 

State  Representative,  Congressman,  United  States 
Senator,  Common  Pleas  Judge  and  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court. 

SYLVESTER  BONNAFFON   456 

Raised  Regiment  of  Veterans  in  Two  Days,  1877; 
Last  Troops  Discharged  after  Riots ;  Cashier  of 
Customs  in  Philadelphia. 

EDWIN  LAURENTINE  DRAKE   465 

The  Man  Who  Bored  the  First  Oil  Well  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

J.  DONALD  CAMERON   480 

United  States  Senator  Four  Times,  and  Secretary 
of  War  Under  President  Hayes. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

HENRY  M.  HOYT   488 

Governor,  1879-83;  Soldier  and  Judge. 

ANDREW  H.  DILL   496 

State  Representative,  Senator,  Candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor in  1878,  and  United  States  Marshal. 

HENRY  W.  PALMER   504 

Attorney-General  and  Representative  in  Congress. 

WINFIELD  S.  HANCOCK   512 

Major-General  Who  Received  Pickett's  Charge  at 


Gettysburg;  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  United 


States  Army,  and  Candidate  for  President  in 
1880.    Died  in  1886. 

HENRY  W.  OLIVER   520 

Leading    Manufacturer,   Pittsburg.  Republican 
Nominee  for  United  States  Senator  in  1881. 

GALUSHA  A.  GROW   528 


Congressman,  Speaker  During  First  Congress  of 
the  War.  Recalled  to  Congress  after  a  Long 
Interval  and  Closed  his  Service  Fifty-tv^o  Years 
after  his  First  Appearance. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

ROBERT  E.  PATTISON   544 

Comptroller  of  Philadelphia,  and  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 1883-1887,  1891-1895. 

LEWIS  C.  CASSIDY   560 

Assemblyman,  District  Attorney  and  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, 1883-86. 

ANDREW  CARNEGIE   568 

Master  of  the  Steel  Industry  of  the  World. 

MATTHEW  S.  QUAY   576 

State  Representative,  Secretary  to  Governor  Curtin, 
Military  State  Agent  at  Washington  and  United 
States  Senator,  three  times ;  died  1904. 

JOHN  WANAMAKER   580 

Prince  of  Merchants,  Postmaster-General  and  Can- 
didate for  Governor  and  United  States  Senator. 

WILLIAM  F.  HARRITY   584 

Secretary  of  Commonwealth,  1891-95 ;  Postmaster 
of  Philadelphia,  1885-89,  and  Chairman  of  Demo- 
cratic National  Committee,  1892. 

W.  U.  HENSEL   588 

Attorney-General,  1891-95.  President  of  the  State 
Bar  Association. 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

DANIEL  H.  HASTINGS   593 

Adjutant-General  and  Governor  from  1895  to  1899. 

BOIES  PENROSE   600 

State  Representative  and  Senator,  United  States 
Senator,  elected  1897  and  re-elected  1903. 

WILLIAM  A.  STONE   608 

Congressman  and  Governor,  1899-1903. 

CHRISTIAN  L.  MAGEE   612 

City  Treasurer  of  Pittsburg,  and  State  Senator. 

SAMUEL  W.  PENNYPACKER   616 

Philadelphia  Common  Pleas  Judge  and  Governor, 
1903-1907. 

HARMAN  YERKES   624 

State   Senator,   Common   Pleas  Judge  of  Bucks 
County,  Candidate  for  Supreme  Judge. 

PHILANDER  C.  KNOX   628 

United   States   Attorney-General   and   since  1904 
United  States  Senator. 


LIV. 


RANDALL  AND  WALLACE. 

The  Varied  Careers  of  the  Two  Great  Democratic  Leaders  in  Pennsylvania 
for  Nearly  a  Generation — Both  Were  Weakened  by  Leading  Opposing 
Factions  Against  Each  Other — Leading  Characteristics  of  the  Two 
Men — Interesting  Incidents  of  Their  Factional  Disputes — Wallace's 
Last  Battle  and  Defeat  Closely  Followed  Randall's  Death. 

EIGHTEEN  hundred  and  sixty-two  brought  to  the 
front  the  two  ablest  of  the  Democratic  leaders 
that  Pennsylvania  had  for  a  full  quarter  of  a 
century,  after  they  became  recognized  Democratic 
factors  in  the  politics  of  the  State.  These  men  were 
Samuel  J.  Randall,  of  Philadelphia,  and  William  A. 
Wallace,  of  Clearfield.  Wallace  was  elected  to  the 
senate  in  the  fall  of  1862,  defeating  Senator  Louis  W. 
Hall,  of  Blair,  who  had  been  elected  in  the  same  dis- 
trict three  years  before  by  a  decided  majority.  Wallace 
served  continuously  in  the  senate  for  twelve  years, 
when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  United  States  Senator- 
chip,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  the  legislative  session 
of  1875.  Soon  after  he  entered  the  National  Senate 
he  was  recognized  by  the  Democrats  as  their  leader  of 
the  body.  After  he  had  served  his  full  term  in  Wash- 
ington he  returned  to  the  State  senate,  where  he  served 
until  1886,  making  sixteen  years'  service  as  State 
senator,  and  six  years  as  United  States  Senator. 

Randall  had  served  in  the  city  councils,  and  was 
chosen  in  1857  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  in  the  State 
senate.  I  was  first  elected  to  the  house  the  same  year, 
and,  although  on  opposing  political  sides,  our  acquain- 
tance of  that  session  ripened  into  a  friendship  that 
lasted  until  he  died,  the  father  of  the  National  House  of 

2— a  (17) 


i8 


Old  Time  Notes 


Representatives.  He  was  chosen  to  Congress  in  1862 
from  the  First  district  of  Philadelphia,  composed  of 
the  Second,  Third,  Fourth,  Fifth,  Sixth  and  Eleventh 
wards,  defeating  Webb,  the  Union  candidate,  by  1,447 
majority. 

Randall  and  Wallace  were  equally  able  in  the  varied 
political  conflicts  they  had  to  accept,  but  they  were 
unlike  in  temperament  and  in  method.  Wallace's 
finely-chiseled  face,  surmounting  his  symmetrical, 
manly  form,  always  appareled  in  scrupulous  neatness, 
would  attract  the  attention  of  any  one  meeting  him; 
while  Randall's  strong  face,  of  heroic  mold,  with  his 
often-careless  dress  and  shuffling  step,  might  pass 
through  the  multitude  without  special  observation, 
but  those  who  took  a  careful  view  of  his  features 
would  see  determination  and  self-reliance  very  clearly 
portrayed. 

Of  the  two  Wallace  was  much  the  greater  organizer; 
indeed,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  his  entrance 
upon  the  political  stage  of  Pennsylvania  the  Demo- 
cratic party  had  no  leader  who  equaled  or  even 
approached  Senator  Wallace  in  the  power  of  organiza- 
tion, while  Randall  was  a  fighter  rather  than  a  strat- 
egist. Wallace  would  methodically  and  in  detail  plan 
a  battle  and  then  fight  it  to  a  finish,  while  Randall 
was  always  ready  for  battle  regardless  of  method  or 
preparation.  Randall  was  impulsive,  while  Wallace's 
Scotch-Irish  courage  was  greatly  tempered  by  dis- 
cretion. Both  were  fast  friends  and  implacable  ene- 
mies, and  the  greatest  misfortune  that  befell  these  two 
men  during  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  varying 
triumphs  and  defeats  was  the  fact  that  they  speedily 
became  rival  leaders,  and  their  best  energies  were 
often  entirely  and  desperately  directed  to  the  over- 
throw of  each  other. 

Each  aimed  at  the  mastery  of  the  Democracy  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


19 


the  State,  and  great  as  they  were,  neither  was  great 
enough  to  understand  that  the  State  was  quite  great 
enough  for  two  such  men,  and  that  they  could  and 
should  be  in  harmony  with  each  other.  I  served  with 
both  of  them  in  the  Legislature,  and,  regardless  of  all 
the  mutations  in  political  conflicts  which  at  times 
made  me  support  and  at  other  times  oppose  them  in 
their  political  struggles,  the  closest  friendship  was  ever 
maintained  between  both  of  them  and  myself.  I 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  both,  and  in  their  many  fac- 
tional conflicts  both  conferred  with  me  with  absolute 
freedom. 

On  several  occasions  when  they  were  about  to  engage 
in  a  factional  struggle  I  brought  them  together  in  my 
oflice  face  to  face,  and  appealed  to  them  to  pool  their 
issues  and  cease  their  factional  warfare.  In  every 
instance  they  left  me  after  agreeing  to  do  so,  and  in 
every  instance  the  agreement,  was  broken  within  a  very 
few  days,  and  each  accused  the  other  of  precipitating 
the  breach.  In  point  of  fact  they,  like  all  factional 
leaders,  had  dependent  followers  who  hoped  to  profit 
by  the  triumph  of  their  chief,  and  harmony  would  have 
lessened  their  importance. 

A  pointed  illustration  of  the  difiiculty  of  reconciling 
opposing  factions  was  given  in  1884,  when  Randall 
had  wrested  the  control  of  the  party  from  Wallace, 
and  had  made  himself  so  strong  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  that  Wallace  was  powerless  to  oppose  hifn 
with  any  measure  of  success.  W.  U.  Hensel,  later 
attorney  general  under  Governor  Pattison,  was  then 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  committee,  and  a 
short  time  before  the  Democratic  State  convention  met 
at  Allentown,  in  1884,  Randall  and  Hensel  were  in  my 
editorial  office  discussing  the  situation,  and  I  proposed 
to  Randall  that  he  should,  without  consulting  Wallace, 
or  asking  any  pledges  whatever  from  him,  place  him 


20 


Old  Time  Notes 


at  the  head  of  the  Randall  delegation  to  the  National 
convention.  Randall's  belligerent  qualities  asserted 
themselves  with  some  violence  at  the  suggestion,  but 
Hensel  heartily  seconded  the  proposition,  and  Randall 
finally  agreed  that  he  would  consider  the  matter 
fully  and  meet  us  again  at  dinner  the  same  evening  to 
decide  it. 

Randall  was  very  positive  in  the  conviction  that  he 
should  place  his  most  devoted  friends  at  the  head  of 
the  delegation,  but  after  discussing  the  matter  he 
finally  yielded  reluctantly  to  the  positive  advice  of 
Hensel  and  myself,  and  assented  to  Wallace  as  the 
head  of  the  delegation.  The  plan  was  that  it  should 
be  done  without  approaching  Wallace  on  the  subject, 
as  even  Randall  had  to  confess  that  if  Wallace  accepted 
the  position,  as  he  certainly  would,  he  would  feel  that 
his  personal  honor  and  manhood  required  him  to  make 
exhaustive  effort  for  Randall's  nomination. 

Wallace  happened  in  my  office  on  the  following  day. 
He  spoke  with  some  bitterness  of  the  fact  that  the 
coming  State  convention  would  not  be  at  all  in  sym- 
pathy with  him.  When  I  told  him  that  he  had  been 
determined  upon  by  Randall  and  his  friends  for  the 
head  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  to  support  Ran- 
dall for  President,  Wallace,  on  the  impulse  of  the  mo- 
ment, said  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  accept, 
but  after  a  brief  discussion  of  the  matter  he  realized 
that  it  would  be  a  high  compliment  to  himself,  and  that 
in  no  way  could  he  show  his  greatness  more  distinctly 
than  by  accepting  the  trust  without  condition  and  dis- 
charging his  duties  with  the  utmost  fidelity.  He  left 
my  office  much  gratified,  but  within  forty-eight  hours 
I  received  a  curt  letter  from  him  stating  that  it  was 
evidently  meant  to  crucify  him  at  Allentown  by  pre- 
senting and  defeating  him  as  a  candidate  for  delegate- 
at-large,  and  advising  me  that  the  incident  was  closed. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


21 


I  wrote  him  in  reply  not  to  bother  himself  about  the 
Allentown  convention,  for  he  would  be  unanimously 
elected,  and  that  I  knew  he  would  be  highly  gratified 
not  only  at  the  expression  of  confidence  from  the  con- 
vention, but  by  the  manly  performance  of  his  duty  as 
chairman  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation.  He  was 
iinanimously  elected,  and  I  saw  him  at  almost  every 
stage  of  the  conflict  in  Chicago,  where  he  seemed  to 
have  but  one  inspiration,  and  that  was  to  promote 
the  nomination  of  Randall.  His  speech  presenting 
Randall's  name  to  the  convention  was  one  of  the  great- 
est and  grandest  of  his  life. 

When  the  delegates  met  at  Chicago  and  were  lined 
up  on  the  Presidency,  it  finally  became  evident  that 
Randall  could  not  be  nominated,  as  his  views  on  the 
tariff  were  not  acceptable  to  a  large  majority  of  his 
party.  I  doubt  not  that  Wallace  shed  no  tears  over 
the  failure  to  nominate  Randall,  but  in  every  public 
and  private  effort  relating  to  the  nomination  he  was 
tireless  and  earnest  in  support  of  Randall. 

It  would  naturally  be  assumed  that  these  two  great 
leaders,  when  they  were  brought  into  such  close  rela- 
tions in  1884,  would  have  ceased  to  be  opposing  fac- 
tional leaders,  or  at  least  had  their  factional  hostility 
greatly  tempered,  but  such  was  not  the  fact,  and  while 
Randall  fully  appreciated  Wallace's  manly  exhibition 
of  fidelity  at  Chicago,  the  battle  of  factions  went  on 
and  continued  until  Randall's  death  on  the  thirteenth 
of  April,  1890,  when  new  political  conditions  arose  over 
which  neither  could  have  exercised  a  mastery,  and  only 
a  few  months  after  Randall's  death  Wallace  was 
defeated  for  Governor  in  the  Democratic  State  conven- 
tion at  Scranton. 

It  was  the  final  defeat  that  comes  to  almost  every 
great  leader,  but  he  did  not  appreciate  it  fully  until, 
after  the  election  of  Pattison,  his  successful  competitor 


22 


Old  Time  Notes 


for  the  nomination,  he  found  it  impossible  to  command 
the  attorney  generalship  of  the  State  for  himself.  He 
was  then  broken  in  fortune,  and  his  home,  that  he  ever 
appreciated  as  the  most  sacred  altar  of  his  devotion, 
had  long  been  shadowed  by  a  most  accomplished  and 
beloved  wife  and  mother  groping  her  way  through  life 
by  his  side  in  the  starless  midnight  of  mental  infirmity. 

Randall  and  Wallace  had  little  opportunity  for 
successful  State  leadership,  as  they  came  into  political 
control  after  the  Democratic  party  had  committed 
the  fatal  mistake  of  a  doubtful  or  hesitating  attitude 
in  support  of  the  war,  and  the  only  hope  of  Demo- 
cratic triumph  in  the  State  was  by  defection  in  the  ranks 
of  the  majority  party. 

Wallace  was  for  a  number  of  years  chairman  of  the 
Democratic  State  committee.  He  struggled  against 
fearful  odds  to  maintain  a  hopeful  Democratic  organi- 
zation. In  the  United  States  Senate  he  was  soon 
accepted  as  altogether  the  ablest  of  the  Democratic 
Senators  in  defining  the  policy  of  the  party  on  all 
important  questions,  and  he  fully  sustained  the  repu- 
tation he  achieved.  Randall  became  Speaker  of  the 
House  after  having  first  suffered  a  defeat  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  session.  With  the  aid  of  Wallace,  then  a 
United  States  Senator,  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  triumphed 
over  Randall  in  the  caucus,  but  Kerr  died  a  few  months 
thereafter  and  Randall  was  then  successful,  and  he 
was  twice  re-elected  to  that  responsible  position. 

Randall  was  a  thoroughly  loyal  Democrat  during 
the  war,  and  was  in  the  three  months'  service  with 
General  Patterson  as  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia 
Troop.  He  ever  exerted  a  most  wholesome  influence 
in  restraining  his  party  from  its  general  trend  to  array 
itself  in  opposition  to  the  war,  and  his  devotion  to  a 
liberal  protective  policy  that  cost  him  the  nomination 
for  the  Presidency  in  1884,  twice  defeated  his  party 


Of  Pennsylvania 


23 


in  earnest  efforts  to  return  to  a  revenue  tariff.  After 
his  retirement  from  the  Speakership  in  1880,  he  was 
made  chairman  of  the  committee  on  appropriations, 
where  his  strong  integrity  commanded  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  all  parties.  His  severe  economy  was 
often  criticised,  as  he  resolved  all  doubts  against  appro- 
priations and  saved  the  Government  many,  many 
millions  by  his  tireless  efforts  as  watch  dog  of  the 
treasury. 

It  was  chiefly  through  his  efforts  in  the  very  closing 
hours  of  the  session  of  Congress  that  General  Grant 
was  restored  to  the  roll  of  the  army  as  General,  retired. 
Mr.  Childs  had  been  to  New  York  and  learned  for  the 
first  time  the  exact  character  of  the  malady  from  which 
Grant  was  suffering,  and  that  his  life  could  not  be  pro- 
longed beyond  a  very  few  months  at  the  most.  It  was 
just  about  the  close  of  the  Congressional  session,  and 
Mr.  Childs  urged  me  to  proceed  to  Washington  at  once 
to  present  the  matter  to  Randall,  as  without  his  aid 
it  could  not  be  accomplished.  I  hastened  to  Washing- 
ton, Randall  took  hold  of  it  without  delay  and  forced 
its  passage  through  the  House,  and  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
the  last  act  that  President  Arthur  signed  in  the  Execu- 
tive office,  where  the  President  usually  attends  at 
the  close  of  Congress,  was  the  act  restoring  Grant  to 
the  army  roll,  and  the  last  communication  sent  to  that 
Congress  by  President  Arthur,  even  after  the  hour  of 
adjournment,  when  the  clock  had  been  halted  in  mark- 
ing the  flight  of  time,  was  a  message  sending  Grant's 
nomination  to  the  Senate,  which  was  promptly  and 
unanimously  confirmed. 

Randall  never  enjoyed  fortune.  He  lived  most 
frugally  on  his  salary  as  a  member  of  Congress,  but 
his  services  were  so  highly  valued  as  a  Philadelphia 
Congressman  that  a  few  business  men,  headed  by 
Drexel  and  Childs,  provided  all  the  political  expenses 


24 


Old  Time  Notes 


for  his  district  from  year  to  year,  and  when  a  fund 
was  raised  by  Childs  and  Drexel  just  before  Randall's 
death,  to  give  a  ver}^  moderate  income  to  his  family, 
he  refused  to  assent  to  it,  and  I  was  again  sent  to  Wash- 
ington by  Mr.  Childs  to  insist  that  he  should  not  inter- 
pose against  a  gift  to  his  wife  and  children,  who  would 
be  left  dependent.  He  was  then  on  his  deathbed  with 
only  a  few  days  of  life  before  him,  and  it  was  my  last 
meeting  with  Randall  until  I  stood  beside  his  lifeless 
body  at  the  tomb. 

He  finally  consented  that,  as  the  gift  had  no  relation 
to  public  affairs,  it  might  be  carried  into  effect.  The 
money  was  invested  by  Drexel  to  yield  an  annual 
income  of  $2,000,  and,  since  his  death,  when  some  of 
the  investments  proved  unfortunate,  the  full  value 
was  restored  by  the  original  contributors. 

The  one  impassable  chasm  between  Randall  and 
Wallace  was  the  fact  that  both  could  not  be  President 
of  the  United  States.  Both  were  very  earnest  candi- 
dates for  that  position  for  a  number  of  years,  as  I 
know  from  very  many  conferences  with  them  on  the 
subject,  and  each  was  constantly  in  conflict  to  repress 
the  other. 

After  Wallace  retired  from  the  United  States  Senate, 
Randall  won  the  control  of  the  party  and  became  chair- 
man of  the  State  committee.  He  held  the  position  for 
several  years,  but  he  was  not  an  organizer.  He  was  a 
political  fighter  rather  than  a  manager,  and  defeat 
came  to  him  as  it  had  come  to  Wallace,  although 
Randall  narrowly  escaped  the  Presidential  nomination 
in  1880  at  Cincinnati.  The  convention  was  held  in 
the  balance  for  two  days  awaiting  the  final  decision  of 
Tilden,  who  would  have  been  nominated  by  the  con- 
vention had  he  not  decided  to  withdraw.  After 
delaying  quite  too  long  he  sent  a  declination  and 
advised  the  nomination  of  Randall,  but  it  was  too  late. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


25 


The  Hancock  feeling  had  been  well  managed  and 
reached  a  tidal  wave,  and  Randall  fell  through  the 
indecision  of  his  friends. 

Wallace  never  was  presented  for  President  by  his 
State,  as  Randall  was  in  1884,  but  for  fifteen  years 
before  his  retirement  from  active  participation  in 
politics  he  always  looked  hopefully  to  his  election,  to 
the  Presidency.  Had  Wallace  been  for  Randall  in 
1880,  as  he  was  in  1884,  Randall  would  have  been  nomi- 
nated and  might  have  been  elected,  as  Hancock  was 
crucified  by  Tammany. 

Thus,  in  striving  to  accomplish  the  great  ambition 
of  their  lives,  the  only  thing  that  they  accomplished 
in  that  line  was  to  hinder  the  advancement  of  each 
other. 

In  1886  Wallace  had  retired  from  the  United  States 
Senate,  only  a  few  years  before,  and  had  decided  to 
become  a  candidate  for  Governor.  He  explained  his 
purpose  to  me,  and  I  well  understood  that  his  chief 
inspiration  in  the  movement  was  to  obtain  such  posi- 
tion in  the  party  as  would  indicate  his  continued  mas- 
tery in  the  State.  I  suggested  to  him  that  there  was 
no  reason  why  he  and  Randall  should  be  at  war  on 
the  subject,  and  proposed  that  they  should  meet  in 
my  office  together,  and  in  a  few  days  they  were  there 
to  confer  on  the  subject. 

Like  all  intensely  inflamed  factional  leaders,  they 
did  many  childish  things  in  factional  warfare,  but  I 
had  a  very  plain  talk  with  both  of  them,  reminding 
them  that  they  were  lessening  their  own  manhood  and 
political  importance  by  political  conflicts,  and  I  sug- 
gested to  Randall  that  he  should  declare  in  favor  of 
Wallace  for  Governor,  to  which  he  assented,  and  then, 
for  the  first  and  only  time,  as  they  shook  hands  at 
parting,  I  supposed  the  factional  fight  was  ended,  at 
least  for  a  season. 


26 


Old  Time  Notes 


But  within  ten  days,  doubtless  because  of  the  vio- 
lence of  the  followers  of  both  the  party  leaders,  Ran- 
dall conceived  that  he  had  good  cause  to  break  the  com- 
pact, and  he  fought  out  at  the  State  convention  at 
York  one  of  the  bitterest  struggles  of  his  life,  where  he 
succeeded  in  defeating  Wallace  for  Governor  and  nomi- 
nating Chauncey  F.  Black. 

Wallace  was  greatly  mortified  at  his  defeat,  and 
intensely  embittered  against  Randall,  but  his  own 
senatorial  district,  after  his  defeat  for  Governor,  gave 
him  a  unanimous  nomination,  and  next  to  a  imani- 
mous  re-election  to  the  State  senate. 

Important  incidents  in  the  lives  of  public  men  best 
illustrate  their  qualities.  When  Randall  transferred 
his  force  and  thus  assured  the  nomination  of  Cleveland 
for  President,  in  1884,  it  was  understood,  if  not  more 
formally  agreed  to,  that  Randall  should  control  the 
patronage  of  the  administration  in  Pennsylvania  if 
Cleveland  succeeded,  and  as  his  friends  and  the  friends 
of  Wallace  were  at  daggers'  points  in  every  locality, 
Randall  was  naturally  inclined  to  appoint  his  friends 
and  Oifend  his  Democratic  opponents.  He  at  first 
carried  this  policy  to  such  an  extent  that  a  tempest 
of  protest  reached  the  President,  and  a  somewhat 
tempered  line  of  policy  was  accomplished  by  a  rather 
interesting  incident.  He  had  recommended  for  post- 
master of  Huntingdon  a  devoted  follower  of  his  against 
the  candidate  presented  by  ex-Congressman  Speer 
and  Senator  McAteer,  whose  political  control  of  the 
Democracy  of  the  county  was  absolute.  Randall 
succeeded  in  having  Postmaster  General  Vilas  endorse 
his  candidate  to  the  President. 

Speer  called  upon  me  and  made  an  earnest  appeal 
to  save  him  if  possible  from  such  a  fearful  humiliation 
in  his  own  home,  that  would  practically  destroy  his 
usefulness  in  the  party.    I  told  him  that  I  would  give 


Of  Pennsylvania 


27 


it  immediate  and  earnest  attention,  as  Randall's 
affront  to  Speer  and  McAteer  was  unpardonable, 
although  forced  upon  him  by  his  factional  supporters. 

It  happened  that  Randall  was  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
day  that  Speer  visited  me,  and  called  to  see  me  early 
in  the  evening.  I  said  nothing  to  him  about  Speer 's 
complaint,  but  asked  him  whether  he  would  do  me  the 
favor  to  deliver  a  letter  to  the  President  in  person  as 
soon  as  he  returned  to  Washington.  He  answered  that 
he  would  certainly  do  so  promptly.  I  wrote  a  brief 
letter  to  the  President,  stating  that  Randall  had  ad- 
vised the  appointment  of  a  postmaster  in  Huntingdon 
who  was  opposed  by  ex-Congressman  Speer  and  Senator 
McAteer,  the  absolutely  controlling  leaders  of  the 
Democracy  in  both  the  town  and  county,  and  that  if 
the  appointment  was  made  neither  Randall  nor  Cleve- 
land would  be  likely  to  carry  a  delegate  in  that  section 
of  the  State  for  some  years. 

After  writing  the  letter  I  said  to  Randall  that  I 
thought  I  should  read  it  to  him  before  it  was  given  to 
him  for  delivery  in  person,  and  I  read  it.  The  masterful 
combativeness  of  his  character  was  instantly  exhibited 
in  his  strong  face,  but  he  made  no  other  reply  than  that 
he  would  deliver  the  letter  as  he  promised,  and  nothing 
further  was  said  on  the  subject. 

Immediately  on  his  return  to  Washington  he  called 
upon  the  President  and  delivered  the  letter.  Natur- 
ally, the  President  was  greatly  surprised  at  its  contents, 
and  turning  to  Mr.  Randall  he  inquired  whether  the 
statements  were  true.  Randall  said  that  he  was  not 
prepared  to  dispute  them,  to  which  the  President 
answered  that  the  contest  for  postmaster  in  Hunt- 
ingdon might  be  considered  as  settled,  and  Speer 's 
man  was  appointed. 

Wallace  made  his  last  battle  in  1890,  and  his  old 
rival  was  borne  to  his  grave  in  the  early  part  of  the 


28 


Old  Time  Notes 


year.  Wallace  then  believed  the  field  to  be  clear  for 
him,  and  in  his  methodical  way  he  arranged  to  have 
Wallace  men  elected  delegates  in  a  majority  of  the 
counties  of  the  State.  He  had  little  hope  that  he  might 
be  elected,  but  a  nomination  for  Governor  would  rein- 
state him  as  the  leader  of  the  party.  He  many  times 
visited  and  conferred  with  me  on  the  subject,  and  was 
quite  confident  of  success,  but  the  granger  movement 
then  developed  in  huge  proportions,  the  hayseeds  of 
the  rural  districts  stormed  the  Democracy,  and  a 
month  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  at  Scran- 
ton  it  became  evident  to  all  but  Wallace  himself  that 
even  the  tried  followers  of  Wallace  elected  as  delegates 
could  not  adhere  to  their  chief  and  sustain  themselves 
at  home. 

Three  weeks  before  the  convention  met  I  ventured 
to  tell  Wallace  that  he  could  not  be  nominated.  He 
retorted  angrily  that  he  had  a  Wallace  convention, 
and  that  no  human  power  could  take  it  from  him.  I 
said  to  him  that  I  did  not  believe  his  success  was 
possible,  and  I  begged  of  him  to  make  careful  investiga- 
tion when  the  convention  was  about  to  meet  and 
ascertain  the  precise  situation.  If  he  saw  that  defeat 
confronted  him,  I  entreated  him  to  enter  the  conven- 
tion as  a  delegate,  nominate  Pattison  himself,  and  let 
the  convention  unanimously  nominate  him  for  United 
States  Senator,  as  there  was  one  to  be  elected.  If 
the  Democrats  carried  the  Legislature  he  would  be 
the  Senator;  if  not,  he  could  certainly  be  the  attorney 
general.  He  dismissed  the  proposition  summarily, 
and  I  did  not  see  him  again  until  the  week  before  the 
election,  when  he  returned  from  Europe  and  delivered 
his  only  address  in  the  campaign  in  Philadelphia. 

Instead  of  facing  and  bowing  to  the  situation  at 
Scranton,  he  stood  his  ground  sullenly,  accepted  defeat, 
and  sailed  for  Europe  a  few  days  thereafter.  When 


Of  Pennsylvania 


^9 


abroad  he  was  advised  of  the  progress  of  the  campaign 
and  the  probabiHty  of  Pattison's  success.  He  returned 
just  in  time  to  deHver  a  single  speech,  and  at  a  httle 
supper  party  after  he  had  spoken,  he  stated  to  me  his 
embarrassed  financial  condition,  and  expressed  the 
earnest  desire  that  he  might  be  made  attorney  general ; 
but  his  opportunity  and  his  power  had  passed  away, 
and  a  few  years  later,  when  Randall  and  Wallace  had 
struggled  in  ceaseless  conflict  for  nearly  a  generation 
to  climb  the  treacherous  heights  of  political  mastery, 
they  ''sleep  the'gither  at  the  foot." 


30 


Old  Time  Notes 


LV. 

BUCKALEW  ELECTED  U.  S.  SENATOR. 

Democrats  Elected  Their  State  Ticket  in  1862  and  One  Majority  on  Joint 
Ballot  in  the  Legislature — A  Bitter  Struggle  for  the  Senatorship — 
Cameron  Claimed  the  Support  of  One  or  More  Democrats,  and  Re- 
ceived the  Republican  Nomination — Charles  R.  Buckalew  Nominated 
by  the  Democrats — Democratic  Apprehension  of  a  Repetition  of  the 
Lebo,  Maneer  and  Wagenseller  Defection  That  Elected  Cameron  in 
1857 — Organized  Rioters  Crowded  the  Capitol  and  Declared  That 
Any  Democrat  who  Betrayed  His  Party  Would  not  Leave  the  Hall 
Alive — Open  Charge  of  Corruption  Made  Against  Democratic  Repre- 
sentative Boyer — Buckalew  Elected  by  a  Strict  Party  Vote — His 
Career  in  the  Senate. 

THE  election  of  1862  was  the  first  triumph  the 
Democrats  had  achieved  in  Pennsylvania 
for  five  years.  They  had  elected  Packer 
Governor  in  1857  with  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
the  Legislature,  but  they  were  defeated  in  every  con- 
test thereafter,  until  they  won  out  in  1862,  electing 
Slenker  auditor  general  and  Barr  surveyor  general  by 
about  4,000  majority. 

The  Unionists,  as  the  Republicans  were  then  called, 
had  accumulated  a  very  large  majority  in  the  senate, 
and  held  control  of  the  body  by  nearly  two  to  one  even 
against  the  adverse  vote  of  1862.  The  Legislature 
stood  21  Republicans  in  the  Senate  to  12  Democrats, 
giving  a  majority  of  9  to  the  Republicans,  and  the 
house  stood  55  Democrats  to  45  Republicans,  giving 
the  Democrats  a  majority  of  10  in  that  body,  and  a 
majority  of  one  on  joint  ballot. 

A  United  States  Senator  was  to  be  elected  and  the 
closeness  of  the  Legislature  again  brought  Cameron  into 


of  Pennsylvania 


31 


the  field,  as  he  was  a  master  manipulator  of  close  or 
tangled  Legislatures,  having  elected  himself  to  the 
Senate  to  succeed  Buchanan  in  1845  as  an  Independent 
Democrat  with  the  aid  of  the  Whigs  and  bolting 
Cameron  Democrats,  and  re-elected  himself  in  the 
Democratic  Legislature  of  1857,  when  he  defeated 
Forney  by  the  votes  of  Lebo,  Maneer  and  Wagenseller. 
David  Wilmot  had  been  elected  to  the  Senate  to  succeed 
Cameron  when  Cameron  retired  from  that  body  in 
1 86 1,  having  two  years  to  serve,  and  as  he  was  the 
ablest  of  the  Republican  leaders,  it  was  at  first  expected 
that  he  would  receive  the  nomination  of  his  party  for 
re-election;  but  Cameron  called  a  number  of  the 
Republican  leaders  in  council  and  he  informed  them 
that  if  he  received  the  Republican  nomination  and  the 
solid  Republican  vote,  he  could  command  one  or  more 
Democratic  votes  and  thus  assure  his  election.  Wilmot, 
who  was  above  all  things  manly  and  frank,  said  that 
he  could  not  be  elected ;  that  he  knew  of  no  Democratic 
votes  he  could  command,  and  did  not  believe  that  any 
Republican  could  break  the  Democratic  lines.  He 
stated,  however,  that  he  would  not  interpose  his 
interests  to  embarrass  Republican  success,  and  if  the 
leaders  believed  that  they  could  elect  a  Republican 
Senator  by  taking  Cameron,  he  was  entirely  satisfied 
that  they  should  do  so.  The  result  was  that  Wilmot 
was  retired  from  the  contest;  Cameron  became  an 
aggressive  candidate  and  received  the  Republican 
nomination,  and  many  believed  he  would  be  elected. 

The  factional  bitterness  between  the  Curtin  and 
Cameron  wings  of  the  party  had  not  been  in  any  degree 
tempered,  and  at  an  informal  conference  of  four  of  the 
leading  anti-Cameron  members  of  the  Legislature, 
which  I  was  invited  to  attend,  the  whole  matter  was 
fully  discussed  and  the  four  members  declared  that 
they  had  fully  decided  not  to  vote  for  Cameron  and 


32 


Old  Time  Notes 


bring  upon  the  party  the  stain  of  a  corrupt  election  to 
the  Senate  if  Cameron  controlled  one  or  more  Demo- 
cratic votes.  Two  of  those  men,  Thorne,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  Laporte,  of  Bradford,  who  were  prominent 
among  the  Republican  leaders,  had  organized  the 
revolt  and  declared  that  the  policy  was  to  give  no  sign 
of  their  purpose  to  vote  against  Cameron  imtil  the  roll 
was  called  for  the  election  of  Senator.  With  four 
members  of  the  house  thus  positively  and  voluntarily 
pledged  to  defeat  Cameron,  his  success  was  made  abso- 
lutely impossible.  Doubtless  more  could  have  been 
added  to  this  list,  but  it  was  not  deemed  expedient  to 
have  it  discussed,  and  the  whole  arrangement  was  made 
under  a  sacred  obligation  to  secrecy. 

I  doubt  whether  Cameron  ever  knew  that  such  a 
movement  had  been  consummated  to  defeat  him,  as 
the  men  who  had  decided  to  carry  out  the  programme 
never  discussed  it  outside  of  their  own  circle. 

There  was  no  visible  defection  against  Cameron  in 
the  Republican  ranks,  and  Cameron  threw  himself 
into  the  contest,  and  exhausted  his  vast  and  varied 
powers  of  control  to  command  one  or  more  Democratic 
votes.  The  assertion  was  openly  and  positively  made 
on  every  side  by  his  friends  that  he  had  the  necessary- 
Democratic  support  assured,  and  it  soon  became  whis- 
pered that  the  Democratic  vote  upon  which  he  relied 
for  his  election  was  that  of  Representative  Boyer,  of 
Clearfield,  Boyer  was  silent  on  the  subject  for  some 
time  after  his  position  had  become  discussed  as  a  pos- 
sible or  probable  supporter  of  Cameron,  but  a  condition 
speedily  confronted  him  v/hich  compelled  him  to 
define  his  position,  and  he  finally  did  so  by  declaring 
that  he  had  been  offered  a  large  sum  of  money,  vari- 
ously stated  at  twenty  or  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
to  vote  for  Cameron  for  Senator,  and  that  he  had 
apparently  entertained  the  proposition  solely,  as  he 


of  Pennsylvania 


33 


alleged,  to  prevent  Cameron  from  debauching  other 
Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature;  but  the 
friends  of  Cameron,  and  those  who  had  conducted  the 
negotiation  with  Boyer,  boldly  declared  that  he  had 
willingly  entered  into  the  compact,  and  would  have 
executed  it  but  for  the  fact  that  his  life  would  have 
been  imperiled  if  he  had  voted  for  Cameron.  I  do  not 
assume  to  decide  which  of  these  explanations  is  the 
true  one,  but  it  was  generally  accepted  at  the  time  by 
those  who  viewed  the  conditions  intelligently  and 
dispassionately,  that  Boyer  did  not  thus  expose  him- 
self to  public  scandal  and  general  distrust  simply  to 
prevent  Cameron  from  dealing  with  some  other  Demo- 
cratic member  of  the  Legislature.  It  is  due  to  Boyer 
to  say  that,  thirteen  years  later,  when  Wallace  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  leaving  an  unex- 
pired term  of  one  year  in  the  State  senate,  Boyer  was 
elected  as  his  successor. 

The  Democrats  were  greatly  inspired  to  energetic 
action  by  the  triumph  they  had  achieved  in  the  State 
after  a  series  of  defeats,  and  they  well  remembered  how 
Cameron  had  been  elected  in  a  Democratic  Legislature 
only  six  years  before  by  diverting  the  votes  of  Lebo, 
Maneer  and  Wagenseller  to  the  support  of  the  Repub- 
lican caucus  candidate;  and  at  the  first  whisper  of 
Cameron  entering  the  field  they  assumed  that  their 
slender  majority  of  one  in  the  Legislature  made  the 
battle  an  inviting  one  for  Cameron.  There  were  a 
number  of  Democratic  candidates  for  the  Senatorship, 
but  Charles  R.  Buckalew  had  so  strongly  entrenched 
himself  in  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  Democrats 
of  the  State  by  his  thoroughly  honest,  able  and  wise 
leadership  in  the  senate,  that  he  easily  distanced  his 
competitors,  and  was  made  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  Senator  with  the  hearty  support  of  the  entire  party. 
There  were  no  wounds  within  the  Democratic  house- 


2—3 


34 


Old  Time  Notes 


hold,  such  as  had  been  caused  by  the  forced  nomina- 
tion of  Colonel  Forney  in  1857,  and  there  was  no 
shadow  of  excuse  for  any  Democrat  to  desert  his  party. 

The  Democratic  leaders  took  time  by  the  forelock, 
and  long  before  the  Legislature  met  the  most  emphatic 
declarations  were  made  in  every  section  of  the  State 
demanding  that  there  should  be  a  united  party  for 
Senator,  and  that  if  any  Democratic  senator  or  repre- 
sentative deserted  his  party  to  elect  Cameron,  he 
should  be  driven  from  the  State,  or  made  a  stranger 
in  his  commtmity.  In  Philadelphia  the  expressions 
were  even  more  belligerent,  and  as  the  reports  came 
from  Harrisburg  after  the  Legislature  met  that  Wilmot 
had  been  forced  to  yield  the  field  to  Cameron  because 
Cameron  had  given  assurance  of  commanding  Demo- 
cratic votes,  the  more  violent  elements  of  the  party 
were  inflamed  to  revolutionary  action,  and  meetings 
were  held  in  Philadelphia  where  it  was  openly  declared 
that  no  Democratic  member  of  the  Legislature  should 
be  permitted  to  escape  from  the  hall  of  the  house  alive 
if  he  cast  his  vote  for  Cameron.  This  was  not  mere 
bravado;  it  was  deliberately  planned,  and  I  speak 
advisedly  when  I  say  that  it  would  have  been  executed 
regardless  of  consequences. 

A  week  before  the  day  fixed  for  the  election  of  Senator 
it  was  well  known  to  all  that  a  Democratic  vote  for 
Cameron  would  mean  a  violent  death  for  the  man  who 
cast  such  vote.  All  professed  to  deplore  violence  in  or 
about  the  hall  of  the  Legislature,  but  fair-minded  men 
could  not  but  feel  that  the  Democrats  were  not  wholly 
to  blame  for  resolving  to  gain  the  fruits  of  their  ad- 
mitted victory  in  the  State,  or  leave  a  bloody  land- 
mark to  deter  all  future  Democratic  apostates.  I  was 
in  Harrisburg  at  the  time,  and  was  the  senior  military 
officer  on  duty  as  assistant  adjutant  general  of  the 
United  States,  but  was  engaged  chiefly,  if  not  wholly, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


35 


in  closing  up  the  complicated  affairs  of  the  State  draft 
that  had  been  made  several  months  before.  I  have 
seen  many  bitter  conflicts  in  the  Pennsylvania  Legis- 
lature, but  none  that  equaled  the  Cameron-Buckalew 
contest  of  1863.  Cameron's  friends  did  not  doubt 
that  they  had  his  election  secured  if  their  Democratic 
friends  could  be  protected  in  deserting  the  party,  but 
they  also  well  understood,  what  was  an  open  declara- 
tion on  every  street  corner,  that  any  Democrat  who 
voted  for  Cameron  would  imperil  his  life.  It  was  not 
only  known  that  the  Democrats  meant  to  kill  in  the 
hall  of  the  house  any  Democrat  who  voted  for  Cameron, 
but  they  knew  that  several  organized  bodies  of  men 
from  Philadelphia,  who  had  been  assigned  to  the  task, 
had  accepted  it  and  were  more  than  ready  for  its 
execution.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when 
Boyer  made  a  public  statement  that  he  had  been  in 
apparent  negotiation  with  the  Cameron  people  for  the 
sale  of  his  vote,  but  that  he  had  never  intended  to 
desert  his  party. 

A  few  days  before  the  election  of  Senator,  Governor 
Curtin  had  been  called  to  Pittsburg  in  the  performance 
of  important  public  duties,  and  he  sent  for  me  before 
he  left  for  Pittsburg,  and  informed  me  that  he  was 
advised  of  the  purpose  of  Cameron's  friends  to  call 
upon  him  and  demand  that  he  protect  the  Legislature 
by  a  military  force.  He  told  me  that  he  would  not  be 
back  in  time  to  dispose  of  the  proposition,  and  it  would 
naturally  come  to  me,  as  I  was  the  military  command- 
ant of  the  city.  He  asked  my  views  on  the  subject,  and 
I  promptly  answered  that  if  a  military  force  was  to  be 
thrown  in  and  about  the  Legislature,  he  would  have  to 
summon  the  militia  to  perform  that  duty,  as  I  would 
not  permit  any  military  force  that  I  could  command 
to  commit  such  a  violent  exercise  of  military  power. 
The  Governor  was  entirely  satisfied  with  my  answer, 


36 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  as  he  knew  that  I  was  quite  wilHng  to  accept  the 
responsibihty,  he  was  content  that  the  issue  should  be 
left  to  be  disposed  of  by  me  from  a  military  standpoint. 

Cameron  called  upon  me  and  informed  me  that  he 
could  be  elected  United  States  Senator  if  the  members 
of  the  Legislature  were  protected  in  voting  as  they 
wished  to  vote.  I,  of  course,  knew  that  he  had  no 
chance  whatever  of  election,  even  if  he  obtained  two  or 
three  Democratic  votes,  but  I  could  not  give  him  any 
information  on  that  point.  He  made  a  most  earnest 
appeal  to  me  to  assent  to  the  announcement  that  a 
military  force  would  protect  the  members  of  the 
Legislature  in  voting  for  United  States  Senator  and 
protect  them  also  from  violence  after  they  had  left  the 
hall.  I  answered  Cameron,  as  I  had  answered  the 
Governor,  that  I  would  never  permit  the  gleam  of  the 
bayonet  in  the  legislative  halls  to  intimidate  or  protect 
legislators  in  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  that 
such  an  atrocious  violation  of  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  civil  government  was  not  a  question  even  to  be 
discussed.  There  was  no  bitterness  exhibited  by  either 
in  the  full  discussion  of  the  question,  but  he  was  most 
persistent  in  urging  me  to  assure  his  election  by  order- 
ing the  military  force  to  take  possession  of  the  Capitol. 
I  knew  how  hopeless  the  effort  was,  even  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions,  as  he  viewed  it,  but  I  was 
not  at  liberty  to  express  any  views  as  to  the  defection 
in  his  own  party.  He  undoubtedly  believed  that  a 
military  force  to  protect  all  who  entered  the  hall  of 
the  house  would  assure  his  election,  and  it  was  only 
natural  that  he  should  feel  greatly  disappointed  and 
grieved  at  my  refusal  to  assent  to  his  programme.  After 
a  conference  of  more  than  an  hour  Cameron  left  me 
without  any  exhibition  of  temper,  but  he  certainly 
felt  then  that  I  was  the  one  insuperable  obstacle  to 
his  election  to  the  Senate. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


37 


It  was  known  to  all  the  next  day  that  the  civil 
authority  of  the  State  would  not  be  put  under  any 
restraint  or  offered  any  protection  in  the  election  of 
the  Senator,  and  that  practically  ended  the  contest. 
Until  then  Cameron's  friends  were  all  absolutely  certain 
that  he  would  win.  Several  hundred  men  from  Phila- 
delphia had  come  to  Harrisburg  solely  for  the  purpose 
of  making  it  impossible  for  a  Democrat  to  vote  for 
Cameron,  and  when  they  found  that  there  would  be  no 
interference  by  the  military,  declarations  could  be 
heard  in  any  of  the  hotels  or  on  any  of  the  street 
comers  that  the  Democrat  who  voted  against  his  party 
would  never  emerge  from  the  hall  of  the  house  alive. 
The  declarations  were  not  only  made,  but  the  men  who 
made  them  meant  just  what  they  said.  The  Demo- 
crats had  control  of  the  house,  and  with  the  officers  of 
the  body  subject  to  the  orders  of  Democratic  leaders 
they  had  absolute  control  of  the  spectators  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  witness  the  Senatorial  election.  It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  the  ''killers"  and  ''bouncers"  from 
Philadelphia  were  given  the  advantage  of  positions  in 
the  house,  and  they  were  very  earnestly  determined 
on  the  immediate  death  of  any  Democratic  member 
who  voted  for  Cameron. 

They  knew  that  Boyer  would  vote  for  Buckalew,  but 
they  remembered  that,  when  Cameron  was  elected 
over  Forney,  Lebo,  Maneer  and  Wagenseller  were  not 
even  suspected  by  the  Democrats  until  they  cast  their 
votes  on  the  ballot  for  Senator.  They  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  determinedly  organized  opposition  to  Cam- 
eron within  the  Republican  lines;  they  assumed,  as 
they  had  every  reason  to  assume,  that  Cameron  would 
receive  the  united  Republican  vote,  and  they  were 
apprehensive  that  the  Cameron  Democratic  vote  might 
come  from  a  wholly  unexpected  quarter.  It  would 
have  come,  I  did  not  then  doubt,  and  I  do  not  now 


38 


Old  Time  Notes 


doubt,  but  for  the  fact  that  every  Democratic  member 
of  the  Legislature  well  knew  that  he  could  hope  to  live 
over  the  day  only  by  voting  for  Buckalew. 

The  hall  was  crowded  to  suffocation,  but  the  Demo- 
cratic officers  of  the  house  had  taken  care  that  sufficient 
of  the  Democrats  who  might  be  needed  in  an  emergency 
should  be  admitted.    George  V.  Lawrence,  of  Washing- 
ton, was  speaker  of  the  senate  and  presided  over  the 
joint  convention,  and  by  his  side,  on  the  speaker's  stand, 
was  John  Cessna,  Democratic  speaker  of  the  house. 
Lawrence  was  an  accomplished  parliamentarian,  and 
heartily  supported  Cameron.    He  doubtless  completely 
iinderstood  the  situation,  and  knew  when  he  called  the 
convention  to  order  that  Cameron's  election  was  im- 
possible solely,  as  he  believed,  because  the  Democrats 
who  would  be  willing  to  vote  for  Cameron  could  do  so 
only  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives.    There  was  profound 
silence  in  the  hall  when  the  clerk  of  the  senate  began 
the  roll  call  of  the  members,  and  it  continued  unbroken 
as  the  clerk  of  the  house  proceeded  to  call  the  roll  of 
representatives.    There  was  not  an  expression  from 
any  one  until  the  name  of  Representative  Schofield,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  called.    He  was  a  fearless  and 
rather  dramatic  character,  and  he  responded  by  rising 
in  his  place  and  saying  that  in  the  face  of  an  offer  of 
$100,000  to  vote  against  his  party,  he  cast  his  vote  for 
Charles  R.  Buckalew.    Thome  and  the  other  Republi- 
can members  of  the  house  who  had  made  the  compact 
to  defeat  Cameron's  election  voted  for  him,  as  they 
knew  that  no  Democrat  would  support  him,  with  the 
exception  of  Bartholomew  Laporte,  who  had  become 
so  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  Cameron  contest 
that  he  voted  against  him.    After  roll  call  the  vote  was 
tabulated   and   Speaker  Lawrence   announced  that 
Charles  R.  Buckalew  had  received  a  majority  of  votes 
and  was  elected  United  States  Senator.    As  soon  as 


Of  Pennsylvania 


39 


the  election  of  Buckalew  was  announced  the  crowd 
broke  out  of  the  hall  of  the  house,  and  from  that  time 
until  long  after  the  midnight  hour  the  roystering  Dem- 
ocratic element  that  had  come  to  Harrisburg  expecting, 
and  rather  wishing,  to  carve  out  a  record  that  would 
make  future  Democratic  apostates  impossible,  made 
their  cheers  echo  throughout  every  part  of  the  city. 

Charles  R.  Buckalew  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  of 
the  Democratic  leaders  of  his  time.  He  was  not  an 
organizer,  he  had  little  or  no  knowledge  of  political 
strategy,  and  was  entirely  unfitted  for  the  lower  strata 
methods  of  modern  politics.  He  came  to  the  senate 
in  1852  hardly  known  outside  of  his  own  district;  he 
was  singularly  quiet  and  unobtrusive  in  manner,  and 
never  in  any  way  sought  to  exploit  himself.  He  won 
his  position  in  the  party  solely  by  the  great  ability  he 
possessed,  his  practical  efficiency  in  legislation,  and 
the  absolute  purity  of  his  character.  He  was  ordinarily 
a  cold,  unimpassioned  speaker,  but  eminently  logical 
and  forceful. 

Only  on  a  very  few  occasions  did  I  ever  see  him 
aroused  to  the  exhibition  of  emotion  in  public  debate. 
He  took  the  floor  only  when  there  seemed  to  be  a 
necessity  for  it,  and  always  brief  and  incisive  in  the 
expression  of  his  views  while  presenting  his  arguments. 
Had  he  entered  the  National  Senate  under  different 
conditions  he  would  have  made  a  more  creditable 
record  in  that  body,  but  during  his  entire  six  years  of 
service  his  party  was  in  a  pitiable  minority,  and  with 
his  old-school  Democratic  ideas  he  could  not  advance 
with  the  new  revolutionary  conditions  which  surrounded 
and  overwhelmed  him. 

Buckalew  was  an  old-time  Democratic  strict  con- 
structionist, and  he  had  no  sympathy  with  the  violent 
advances  precipitated  by  war  or  the  overthrow  of 
slavery,  by  methods  as  violent  in  politics  as  were  the 


40 


Old  Time  Notes 


deadly  struggles  in  the  field  to  sustain  it.  He  com- 
manded the  universal  respect  of  his  Republican  asso- 
ciates in  the  senate,  and  the  unswerving  confidence 
of  his  own  party  in  State  and  country.  In  1872,  when 
the  Democrats  had  every  prospect  of  electing  a  Gover- 
nor, because  of  the  Liberal  Republican  movement, 
they  nominated  Buckalew  without  a  serious  contest, 
and  that  meant  that  the  party  wanted  Buckalew 
rather  than  that  Buckalew  wanted  the  ofhce.  He 
was  not  capable  of  manipulating  the  nomination  for 
himself,  and  he  was  made  a  candidate  solely  because 
the  party  preferred  him  and  presented  him  as  the 
strongest  and  cleanest  standard  bearer  that  could  be 
offered  to  the  people.  He  accepted  the  nomination 
and  spoke  in  a  number  of  the  leading  centers  of  the 
State,  but  did  not  attempt  a  systematic  canvass.  The 
collapse  of  the  Liberal  Republican  and  Democratic 
coalition  at  the  October  elections  is  well  remembered, 
and  Buckalew  fell  in  the  race.  Later  he  was  elected 
to  Congress,  where  he  served  two  terms,  and  that 
ended  his  public  career.  In  both  the  National  Senate 
and  House  he  seldom  participated  in  debate,  but  was 
a  most  faithful  and  efficient  practical  worker  in  all 
matters  relating  to  legislation.  Soon  after  his  retire- 
ment the  work  of  a  highly  honorable  and  useful  life  was 
ended,  and  he  crossed  the  dark  river  to  the  echoless 
shore  beyond. 


of  Pennsylvania 


41 


LVI. 

CURTIN  RENOMINATED  FOR 
GOVERNOR. 

Curtin's  Broken  Health  Made  his  Retirement  an  Apparent  Necessity — 
Curtin  Movement  to  Nominate  General  Franklin,  a  Loyal  Democrat, 
to  be  Supported  by  Both  Parties,  Rejected  by  the  Democrats — Curtin 
Tendered  a  First-Class  Mission  by  President  Lincoln  to  Enable  Him 
to  Retire  from  the  Contest — Interesting  Interview  with  Lincoln 
by  Cameron,  Forney  and  the  Author — Republican  People  Refuse  to 
Accept  his  Withdrawal,  and  a  Number  of  the  Leading  Counties 
Instructed  for  Him — He  Was  Renominated  on  the  First  Ballot. 

AS  SOON  as  the  desperate  contest  for  the  United 
States  Senator  had  ended  in  January,  1863, 
the  consideration  of  the  gubematorial  con- 
test was  the  absorbing  topic  in  political  circles.  It  was 
not  doubted  at  any  time  that  Governor  Cartin  could 
command  a  renomination  from  the  Republican  party 
regardless  of  the  opposition  of  Cameron,  but  two  very 
important  considerations  made  him  and  his  friends 
take  pause.  He  had  been  suffering  for  m.ore  than  a 
year  from  a  malady  that  required  severe  and  exhaus- 
tive surgical  operations,  and  his  devotion  to  his  exacting 
political  duties  never  gave  him  opportunity  to  regain 
his  strength.  In  the  spring  of  1863  there  was  every 
indication  of  a  general  and  final  breakdown  of  his 
physical  system,  and  all  felt  that  it  was  not  possible  for 
him  to  assume  the  responsibility  and  labors  of  another 
State  battle  for  the  Governorship.  It  would  not  have 
been  possible  for  him  to  make  a  canvass  of  the  State, 
and  the  general  conviction  of  his  friends  was  that  if 
he  accepted  the  nomination  and  attempted  to  make 
the  fight,  he  would  not  survive  the  struggle. 


42 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  other  consideration  was  one  that  was  also  a 
very  grave  one  for  himself  and  his  friends  to  consider. 
Even  with  a  thoroughly  united  party  he  could  hardly 
hope  to  command  success,  and  with  Cameron's  implaca^ 
ble  hostility  there  was  no  reasonable  prospect  of  his 
re-election.  Our  soldiers  were  disfranchised  unless  they 
could  be  furloughed  home  to  vote,  and  with  75,000 
Pennsylvania  soldiers  in  the  field,  a  very  large  majority 
of  whom  would  support  Curtin,  and  denied  the  right 
of  suffrage,  the  contest  appeared  to  be  utterly  hope- 
less. Curtin  fully  realized  the  gravity  of  both  con- 
siderations, which  forbade  an  acceptance  of  a  renomina- 
tion,  and  he  was  very  earnestly  desirous  to  be  able  to 
retire  from  office  at  the  end  of  his  term  and  have  a 
successor  who  would  be  thoroughly  loyal  in  his  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  the  government  in  its  struggle 
against  armed  rebellion.  He  felt  that  the  question 
of  placing  Pennsylvania  in  the  attitude  of  giving  the 
highest  measure  of  moral  and  material  support  to  the 
government  was  paramount  to  all  party  interests,  and 
had  the  Democrats  of  Pennsylvania  accepted  his  sug- 
gestion, they  would  have  had  a  Democratic  Governor  as 
his  successor,  and  the  party  would  have  been  planted 
on  a  platform  of  unquestioned  loyalty  to  the  Union. 

General  William  B.  Franklin  had  won  distinction 
in  the  army  as  a  corps  commander  under  McClellan. 
He  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  a  pronounced  Demo- 
crat and  earnestly  loyal.  When  the  Pennsylvania 
Reserve  Corps  was  organized  in  1861,  Curtin  first 
offered  the  command  of  that  corps  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan, who  was  then  employed  as  a  railroad  engineer 
in  Ohio,  but  on  the  very  day  that  Curtin 's  invitation 
had  reached  him,  the  Governor  of  Ohio  had  asked  him 
to  accept  a  major  generalship  and  take  command  of 
a  number  of  Ohio  regiments  then  just  organized,  and 
the  Legislature  had  in  a  very  few  minutes  passed  an 


Of  Pennsylvania 


43 


act  making  him  eligible,  notwithstanding  he  was  not 
a  citizen  of  the  State.  McClellan  had  given  his  con- 
sent to  accept  the  Ohio  command,  and  was  thus  com- 
pelled with  great  reluctance  to  decline  the  command 
of  the  Reserve  Corps.  Curtin  then  offered  the  command 
to  Franklin,  who  had  just  been  promoted  to  a  colonelcy 
in  the  regular  army,  but  as  the  government  had  refused 
to  accept  the  Reserves  in  immediate  service,  Franklin 
felt  compelled  to  decline  it,  as  it  would  retire  him  from 
active  operations  in  the  field.  The  command  was 
then  given  to  General  McCall. 

When  the  question  of  Curtin 's  candidacy  was  being 
very  carefully  considered  by  himself  and  his  friends, 
I  received  an  urgent  despatch  from  him  to  come  to 
Harrisburg,  and  I  arrived  at  the  Executive  mansion 
in  the  evening.  He  told  me  that  his  purpose  in  sending 
for  me  was  to  inaugurate  a  movement  for  the  nomina- 
tion of  General  Franklin  as  a  candidate  for  Governor 
on  a  non-partisan  platform.  He  believed  that  as 
there  was  no  question  of  Franklin 's  devotion  to  Democ- 
racy the  Dem.ocrats  would  be  glad  to  accept  him, 
and  Curtin 's  plan  was  that  the  Republicans  should 
endorse  the  nomination,  and  thus  bring  the  two  great 
parties  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  support  of  the  war  in 
solid  phalanx.  It  was  a  grand,  patriotic  conception, 
and  one  that  I  believed,  as  Curtin  did,  the  Democrats 
would  be  williiig  to  accept,  and  there  would  have  been 
no  serious  difficulty  in  securing  for  Franklin  the  endorse- 
ment of  the  Republicans.  Franklin  would  have  made 
a  model  Governor,  and  his  election  would  have  relieved 
the  Democrats  of  the  last  vestige  of  disloyalty  and 
greatly  strengthened  them  for  future  contests. 

It  was  decided  to  call  into  private  consultation  a 
number  of  the  Democratic  leaders,  and  if  possible  get 
them  enlisted  in  the  Franklin  movement,  but  we  were 
both  surprised  at  the  opposition  at  once  developed 


44 


Old  Time  Notes 


throughout  the  Democratic  circles.  The  Democrats 
believed  that  they  could  elect  the  next  Governor, 
because  of  the  absence  of  the  soldiers  from  the  polls, 
and  there  were  a  number  of  earnest  candidates,  embrac- 
ing Judge  Woodward,  of  the  supreme  court ;  ex-Speaker 
Hopkins,  of  Washington;  ex-Speaker  Cessna,  of  Bed- 
ford ;  Senator  Clymer,  of  Berks,  and  half  a  dozen  others 
who  were  most  prominent  on  the  surface.  I  was  utterly 
amazed  to  learn  that  not  one  of  the  potential  leaders 
of  the  party  was  willing  to  accept  Franklin,  and  the 
chief  objection  to  him  was  that  his  views  on  the  war 
did  not  accord  with  the  dominant  sentiment  of  the 
party.  It  was  a  great  opportunity  for  the  Democracy 
of  Pennsylvania,  but  the  Democracy  that  had  favored 
and  prosecuted  every  war  in  which  the  country  was 
engaged,  and  boasted  that  it  was  the  war  party  of  the 
country,  was  greatly  demoralized  and  weakened  in  its 
most  vital  quality,  and  it  could  not  throw  its  powerful 
energies  into  the  support  of  the  war  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union.  Its  great  leadership  was  dwarfed  and 
paralyzed,  and  a  very  large  proportion  of  even  the 
more  intelligent  Democratic  people  of  the  State  be- 
lieved that  the  war  must  finally  be  ended  by  compro- 
mise, as  the  South  could  not  be  conquered  into  sub- 
mission to  a  reunion  of  the  States. 

I  conferred  with  Cassidy,  who  was  then  a  great 
power  in  the  Democratic  organization  of  the  State, 
and  who  was  thoroughly  up-to-date,  not  only  in  polit- 
ical management,  but  in  complete  knowledge  of  his 
party.  His  answer  was  very  significant,  as  he  said 
that  the  Democrats  would  not  accept  Franklin  solely 
because  it  was  the  wise  thing  for  them  to  do.  He 
declared  that  the  Democratic  leaders  had  lost  their 
power  and  were  political  suicides.  In  conference  with 
Cessna  he  admitted  the  force  of  the  argument  in  favor 
of  Franklin,  but  as  Cessna  had  been  pronounced  in  his 


Of  Pennsylvania 


45 


loyal  support  of  the  Government,  and  as  the  Governor- 
ship was  the  one  dream  of  his  life,  he  was  unwilling 
to  retire  from  the  contest  in  favor  of  Franklin,  when, 
as  he  put  it,  his  own  election  would  be  just  as  pro- 
noimced  a  victory  for  loyalty  as  that  of  Franklin. 
It  soon  became  evident  that  the  Franklin  scheme  must 
be  abandoned,  and  he  was  dropped  out  of  the  contest 
without  his  name  ever  having  been  in  public  discussion 
as  a  gubernatorial  expectant.  Franklin  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  movement  until  after  it  had  been  abandoned. 
He  told  me  later  that  he  would  have  accepted  the 
position  because  of  the  high  honor  it  brought  to  him, 
but  that  personally  he  was  very  glad  he  would  not  be 
called  from  active  service  to  civil  life. 

After  the  Franklin  episode  it  was  evident  to  all  that 
the  battle  for  the  next  gubernatorial  election  would  be 
a  square  struggle  between  the  two  parties  in  the  State, 
and  Curtin  was  very  anxious  to  find  some  method  by 
which  he  could  retire  without  discredit.  The  delegates 
were  being  elected  from  week  to  week,  and  in  most 
instances  were  instructed  for  him,  but  he  still  hoped 
that  some  conditions  would  arise  by  which  he  could 
escape  the  responsibility  and  labors  of  the  campaign. 

Soon  after  Franklin's  name  had  been  dropped  I 
received  a  message  from  Mrs.  Curtin  to  come  to  Har- 
risburg  at  once,  and  I  was  with  the  Governor  and  his 
family  the  same  evening.  I  was  surprised  to  learn 
from  Mrs.  Curtin,  the  first  opportunity  she  had  to  inform 
me  on  the  subject,  that  she  had  sent  for  me  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  Governor,  and  that  she  wished 
to  have  a  talk  with  me  alone.  When  an  opportunity 
presented  she  said  that  she  had  viewed  with  great 
anxiety  the  efforts  made  to  have  the  Governor  retire 
from  the  gubernatorial  contest,  but  now  she  saw  that 
his  nomination  was  almost  certain  to  be  made,  and  that 
he  would  not  decline  it  even  though  he  felt  that  it 


46 


Old  Time  Notes 


would  be  likely  to  cost  him  his  life.  He  was  in  a  very 
feeble  condition,  and  Mrs.  Curtin  said  it  would  not  be 
possible  for  him  to  accept  the  struggle  of  another  cam- 
paign and  survive.  She  pleaded  with  me  with  tears 
scalding  her  cheeks  to  find  some  method  by  which  the 
Governor  could  be  at  once  relieved  from  his  position 
as  a  candidate,  as  it  was  a  constant  source  of  vexation 
and  aggravated  his  illness. 

Later  in  the  evening  I  had  opportunity  to  confer 
with  the  Governor  alone  and  told  him  frankly  what 
Mrs.  Curtin  had  done  and  said,  and  I  added  that  she 
was  entirely  right,  and  that  he  must  in  some  way  be 
retired  from  the  field  as  a  gubernatorial  candidate. 
He  suggested  that  if  a  foreign  mission  were  tendered 
to  him  it  would  be  a  plausible  excuse  for  his  retirement 
in  view  of  broken  health,  and  added  that  I  might  find 
some  way  of  bringing  that  about.  I  said  to  him  that  I 
would  go  to  Washington  at  once,  and  did  not  doubt 
it  could  be  accomplished  if  he  would  permit  me  to  do 
it  in  my  own  way.  He  agreed  to  leave  the  matter 
entirely  in  my  hands,  and  I  went  to  Washington 
on  the  night  train.  I  had  no  settled  plan  of  action 
until  I  reached  Washington.  I  had  decided  to  confer 
with  Forney,  through  whom  I  hoped  that  Cameron 
could  be  brought  into  co-operation  with  the  arrange- 
ment. If  I  had  intimated  to  Curtin  that  I  contem- 
plated any  relations  with  Cameron,  he  would  have  for- 
bidden it.  I  called  at  Forney's  private  office  in  the 
old  building  on  Capitol  Hill,  where  he  often  entertained 
friends,  and  where  Cameron  often  went  for  a  rest  in  the 
afternoon,  as  the  relations  between  Cameron  and 
Forney  were  then  very  friendly.  I  told  Forney  of 
my  mission,  and  the  necessities  which  had  inspired  it. 
It  was  necessary  for  Curtin  to  be  retired,  first,  because 
he  could  not  survive  the  battle,  and  second,  because 
his  election  seemed  doubtful  in  view  of  the  Pennsyl- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


47 


vania  soldiers  in  the  field  and  the  factional  hostility 
that  would  be  arrayed  against  Curtin.  Forney  was 
very  warmly  attached  to  Curtin  and  very  cordially 
assented  to  the  suggestion  that  he  should  be  retired 
by  the  offer  of  a  mission,  and  thus  harmonize  the  party 
on  a  candidate  who  would  not  be  offensive  to  any  fac- 
tional interests  in  the  State.  I  suggested  that  I  be- 
lieved Cameron  would  favor  the  movement,  as  he  woiild 
be  gratified  to  have  Curtin  out  of  the  Governorship, 
and  also  gratified  to  have  him  out  of  the  State.  Forney 
responded  that  Cameron  would  doubtless  approve  of 
it,  and  said  that  he  could  be  called  at  once,  as  he  was 
lying  down  upstairs  in  one  of  his  rooms. 

Cameron  was  sent  for  and  appeared  in  a  few  minutes. 
The  matter  was  presented  to  him  by  both  Forney  and 
myself,  and  he  said  that  he  very  heartily  approved  of 
the  suggestion.  I  said  to  him  frankly  that  he  wanted 
Curtin  out  of  the  field  because  he  was  not  his  friend, 
and  that  I  wanted  him  out  of  the  field  because  I  was 
his  friend,  and  asked  him  to  go  with  Forney  and  myself 
at  once  to  the  President  and  present  the  matter  to 
him,  to  which  both  Forney  and  Cameron  assented. 
Forney  ordered  a  carriage  and  we  went  directly  to  the 
White  House,  where  we  found  Lincoln  alone.  He 
was  quite  amazed  to  see  Cameron,  Forney  and  myself 
come  together,  as  it  was  seldom  that  we  were  entirely 
in  accord  on  any  of  the  many  political  disputes  which 
were  before  him.  I  stated  the  situation  in  Pennsyl- 
vania to  the  President  with  entire  frankness,  telling 
him  that  Curtin  was  too  ill  to  survive  the  struggle, 
that  his  election  was  certainly  doubtful  because  of  the 
political  conditions  in  our  State  and  the  absence  of 
the  soldiers  from  the  polls,  and  that  if  he  could  tender 
Ctirtin  a  mission  at  the  end  of  his  term,  so  that  public 
announcement  could  be  made  of  it,  it  would  entirely 
eliminate  him  from  the  race,  and  the  factional  bitter- 


48 


Old  Time  Notes 


ness  of  the  State  would  not  enter  into  the  contest. 
Lincoln  had  a  very  high  appreciation  of  Curtin  and 
thoroughly  understood  the  conditions.  He  said  of 
course  he  would  not  offer  Curtin  anything  but  a  first- 
class  mission,  to  which  Cameron  replied  that  a  second- 
class  mission  would  serve  the  purpose,  but  I  answered 
Cameron  by  stating  that  if  a  second-class  mission  was 
to  be  considered  for  Curtin,  the  conference  was  ended. 
Lincoln's  face  brightened  as  it  always  did  when  his  love 
of  humor  asserted  itself,  and  he  said  that  he  had  but 
four  first-class  missions,  all  of  which  were  filled  by  men 
who  very  much  wanted  to  remain  in  them,  and  he 
added  that  he  was  much  in  the  condition  of  Sheridan, 
the  celebrated  Englishman,  whose  rakish  son  had 
brought  scandals  about  himself  and  his  father.  The 
father  remonstrated  with  him  about  his  life  and  in- 
sisted that  he  should  take  a  wife,  to  which  the  young 
rake  answered:  "All  right,  father,  but  whose  wife 
shall  I  take?"  He  said  he  wanted  a  mission,  but 
whose  mission  should  he  take?  After  some  further 
conversation  on  the  subject,  Lincoln  said  that  we 
could  consider  the  suggestion  as  accepted  and  it  would 
be  carried  out.  He  said  that  he  did  not  yet  know  in 
what  form  he  would  put  it,  but  if  I  would  call  back 
again  in  the  morning  he  would  give  a  formal  answer 
that  would  be  satisfactory  to  all.  We  retired  soon 
after,  and  the  next  morning  when  I  called  on  the  Presi- 
dent, he  handed  me  a  letter  in  his  own  hand-writing 
to  be  delivered  to  Governor  Curtin.  The  letter  was 
as  follows: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  13,  1863. 
Hon.  Andrew  G.  Curtin: 

My  Dear  Sir: — If,  after  the  expiration  of  your  present  term  as 
Governor  of  Pennylvania,  I  shall  continue  in  office  here,  and  you  shall 
desire  to  go  abroad,  you  can  do  so  with  one  of  the  first-class  missions. 

Yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


49 


I  returned  to  Harrisburg  by  the  first  train  and 
delivered  Lincoln's  letter  to  Curtin.  He  was  greatly 
delighted,  and  at  once  had  me  prepare  a  statement 
for  the  Associated  Press  announcing  that  the  President 
had  tendered  to  Governor  Curtin  a  first-class  mission 
at  the  expiration  of  his  term;  that  he  had  notified  the 
President  of  his  acceptance  of  the  position,  and  that 
he  would  not,  therefore,  be  a  candidate  for  re-election 
as  Governor.  The  announcement  was  a  regular  bomb- 
shell to  the  earnest  Republicans  of  the  State,  who  were 
enthusiastically  devoted  to  Curtin,  and,  to  the  surprise 
of  both  Curtin 's  friends  and  foes,  within  a  few  days 
thereafter  half  a  dozen  of  the  leading  Republican  coun- 
ties of  the  State,  including  Lancaster  and  Chester,  elected 
their  delegates  and  instructed  them  to  support  Curtin 
for  Governor  regardless  of  his  announced  retirement. 

At  the  meeting  with  the  President  the  question  of 
who  should  take  Curtin 's  place  as  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  Governor  was  freely  discussed  by  Lincoln, 
Cameron,  Forney  and  myself,  although  I  did  not  intro- 
duce the  subject.  Forney  suggested  that  John  Covode 
would  be  the  most  available  candidate,  to  which 
Cameron  cordially  assented,  and  after  considerable 
discussion  all  agreed  that  the  nomination  of  Covode 
would  be  almost  certain  to  be  generally  accepted.  I 
had  informed  Curtin  on  my  return  of  the  views  ex- 
pressed as  to  Covode,  and  he  at  once  said  that  he  had 
no  objection  whatever  to  Covode 's  candidacy,  and 
would  heartily  support  him.  Senator  Ketchum,  of 
Luzerne;  ex-Congressman  Henry  D.  Moore,  of  Phila- 
delphia; Senator  John  P.  Penny,  of  Allegheny,  and 
several  others  were  at  once  pressed  into  the  field  by 
their  friends,  but  the  Republican  counties  continued  to 
demand  Curtin 's  nomination,  notwithstanding  his 
definite  announcement  that  he  was  no  longer  in  the 
race,  and  the  pressure  became  so  urgent  for  Curtin 's 


Old  Time  Notes 


acceptance  that  the  several  opposing  candidates  for 
the  place  could  make  no  progress. 

Large  committees  were  appointed  in  many  of  the 
counties  to  visit  the  Governor  in  person  at  Harrisburg 
and  demand  his  acceptance  of  the  nomination.  Curtin 
repeated  his  declarations  that  his  condition  of  health 
forbade  him  accepting  further  contests,  but  to  all  his 
protests  the  Republicans  of  the  State  turned  a  deaf  ear, 
and  within  ten  days  of  the  meeting  of  the  convention 
it  had  become  evident  that  Curtin  would  be  nominated 
in  disregard  of  his  public  declination.  He  came  to 
Chambersburg  to  spend  a  day  or  two  with  me  and 
decide  in  what  manner  he  should  meet  the  new  emer- 
gency that  confronted  him.  He  was  entirely  convinced 
that  he  ought  not  to  accept  the  nomination,  because 
his  defeat  would  be  quite  probable,  and  because  his 
health  was  such  that  he  would  be  compelled  either  to 
let  the  contest  go  by  default  or  sacrifice  his  life  in  the 
struggle  to  save  himself  and  the  party;  but  he  was 
profoundly  appreciative  of  the  sentiment  that  demanded 
his  nomination  after  he  had  publicly  declined  and  in  a 
manner  that  should  have  been  entirely  satisfactory 
to  his  personal  friends. 

The  question  then  to  be  decided  was  whether,  after 
the  convention  had  nominated  him,  he  would  answer 
with  a  peremptory  declination,  or  bow  to  the  judgment 
of  the  party  and  accept  the  issue  with  all  its  seriously 
threatened  consequences.  I  very  earnestly  urged  him 
to  announce  that  he  could  not,  under  any  circum- 
stances, accept  the  nomination,  as  I  believed  that  he 
owed  it  to  himself,  his  family  and  his  friends  to  do 
so,  but  he  did  not  reach  a  final  decision  until  within  an 
hour  before  he  left  me.  We  had  sat  up  until  after  the 
midnight  hour,  going  over  every  phase  of  the  question, 
and  while  at  breakfast  he  announced  that  he  had 
reached  a  definite  conclusion,  and  that  if  nominated, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


51 


he  could  not  reject  such  a  generous  expression  of 
devotion  from  the  people  of  the  State. 

Our  county  delegation  had  been  chosen  soon  after 
his  declination,  and  I  had  declined  to  serve  as  a  dele- 
gate. I  told  him  that  I  would  obtain  a  substitution 
from  one  of  our  delegates  and  attend  the  convention, 
which  I  did.  The  convention  met  in  Pittsburg,  the 
hotbed  of  opposition  to  Curtin,  and  it  was  intensely 
inflamed  by  the  old  railroad  war  and  Curtin 's  approval 
of  the  repeal  of  the  tonnage  tax.  It  was  publicly 
announced  that  if  Curtin 's  name  was  presented  to  the 
convention  in  Pittsburg  it  would  be  hissed  and  jeered 
by  the  galleries,  and  the  statement  was  not  entirely 
unwarranted.  It  was  an  unusually  able  convention 
with  Mann,  MacVeagh,  Dickey,  Judge  Maxwell,  Tom 
Marshall,  Lawrence  and  many  others  who  stood  in  the 
front  of  Republican  leadership,  and  the  opposition  to 
Curtin,  although  a  scattered  and  feeble  minority,  was 
intensely  bitter  in  the  struggle.  At  the  first  session 
of  the  body  when  Curtin 's  name  was  mentioned  it  was 
hissed  and  jeered,  but  Tom  Marshall,  himself  a  delegate 
from  Pittsburg,  arose  and  apologized  for  the  black- 
guards who  had,  in  some  way,  found  their  way  into  the 
lobby,  and  gave  notice  that  if  there  was  any  repetition 
of  insult  to  the  convention  when  any  name  was  men- 
tioned he  would  at  once  move  to  have  the  gallery 
cleared,  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  Pittsburg.  There 
were  no  more  offensive  demonstrations  from  the  gallery. 
Curtin 's  friends  had  scrupulously  avoided  all  provoca- 
tion and  reached  a  ballot  as  speedily  as  possible. 
Covode,  seeing  that  his  case  was  hopeless,  did  not  per- 
mit the  use  of  his  name,  and  the  ballot  resulted  in  90 
for  Curtin,  18  for  Moore,  14  for  Penny,  3  for  Brewster 
and  I  for  Moorehead.  The  opposition  moved  for 
the  unanimous  nomination  of  Curtin,  and  it  was 
received  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  flLflVmr 


52 


Old  Time  Notes 


LVII. 

CURTIN  RE-ELECTED  GOVERNOR. 

Justice  George  W.  Woodward  Nominated  for  Governor  by  the  Democrats 
When  Lee  Was  Approaching  Gettysburg — From  the  Democratic 
Standpoint  He  Was  Their  Strongest  Candidate — The  Union  Vic- 
tories of  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  Decided  the  Contest  of  1863 — 
Chairman  MacVeagh's  Adroit  HandHng  of  the  Soldier  Element — 
Soberness  of  Political  Discussion  in  1863 — Woodward  Defeated  and 
Curtin  Re-elected — Woodward's  Distinguished  Career. 

THE  issue  of  the  memorable  gubernatorial  con- 
test of  1863  was  irrevocably  decided  by  the 
repulse  of  Pickett's  charge  and  the  retreat 
of  Lee's  army  from  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg.  It 
was  not  fully  understood  at  the  time,  nor  indeed  at 
any  period  during  the  contest,  that  the  mandate  for 
Curtin 's  re-election  came  from  the  decisive  battle- 
field of  the  Civil  War,  but  it  was  none  the  less  the  truth. 
Had  Lee's  campaign  in  Pennsylvania  been  crowned 
with  any  important  measure  of  success  it  would  have 
been  accepted  very  generally  in  the  North  that  the  war 
was  likely  to  be  indefinitely  continued,  with  none  able 
to  foretell  the  final  result  with  any  degree  of  certainty; 
but  when,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1863,  General  Meade 
announced  the  retreat  of  Lee's  army,  and  General 
Grant  announced  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg,  the  con- 
fidence of  the  loyal  people  of  the  country  was  greatly 
strengthened,  and  the  feehng  was  very  general  that  the 
military  power  of  the  Rebellion  was  broken,  assuring 
the  overthrow  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  readers  of  the  present  day  who  did  not  live  during 
the  appalling  trials  of  the  war  can  have  no  just  concep- 
tion of  the  dark  clouds  of  doubt  and  despair  which 


Of  Pennsylvania 


53 


hung  over  the  North  until  after  the  victories  of  Meade 
and  Grant  in  1863.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  had 
fought  battle  after  battle,  and  suffered  defeat  in  every 
struggle,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  drawn  battle 
of  Antietam,  and  Grant  had  been  twice  repulsed  at 
Vicksburg  when  he  had  attempted  to  carry  the  enemy's 
works  by  assault.  So  strong  was  the  feeling  in  some 
of  the  great  centers  of  the  North  that  New  York  city 
was  plunged  into  bloody  riots,  with  anarchy  reigning 
for  days  because  of  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  National 
conscription  law,  and  the  Mollie  Maguire  combination  in 
the  anthracite  region  of  Pennsylvania  was  not  entirely 
alone  in  the  disposition  to  resort  to  revolutionary 
measures  against  the  further  prosecution  of  the  war. 
When  the  enemy  was  on  the  border,  with  a  large  army 
threatening  the  invasion  of  the  North,  I  saw  regiments 
march  away  from  the  front  to  enforce  submission  to 
the  law  in  the  Schuylkill  region.  Congress  had  just 
enacted  an  effective  National  conscription  law,  and 
that  was  an  invitation  to  all  who  were  willing  to  accept 
violent  measures  against  the  government  to  precipitate 
their  action.  In  fact  until  the  defeat  of  Lee  at  Gett3^s- 
burg,  and  his  retreat  to  his  old  battle  lines  of  Virginia, 
there  did  not  seem  to  be  a  ray  of  hope  for  the  election 
of  a  Republican  Governor  in  Pennsylvania  with  75,000 
Pennsylvania  soldiers  disfranchised. 

The  Democratic  State  convention  met  in  Harris- 
burg  when  the  thunders  of  Lee's  guns  were  heard  on 
the  border  in  the  Cumberland  Valley.  It  was  a  great 
opportunity  for  the  Democrats  to  give  General  Frank- 
lin a  unanimous  nomination,  as  it  would  have  empha- 
sized the  attitude  of  the  party  and  relieved  it  of  the 
crushing  millstone  of  actual  or  apparent  disloyalty 
that  always  more  or  less  hindered  Democratic  success. 
It  was  one  of  the  ablest  conventions  the  Democrats 
ever  held  in  the  State,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  nine- 


54 


Old  Time  Notes 


tenths  of  the  delegates  cherished  the  conviction  that 
the  Union  could  not  be  restored  by  force  of  arms. 
They  believed  the  abolishment  of  slavery  by  Lincoln's 
emancipation  proclamation  was  an  utter  impossibility, 
not  only  because  it  did  not  abolish  slavery,  but  also 
because  they  regarded  it  as  a  brutum  fulmen,  entirely 
without  constitutional  or  legal  warrant. 

They  well  understood  that  they  could  not  put  them- 
selves in  the  attitude  of  open  hostility  to  the  war  and 
the  soldiers  engaged  in  it,  and  they  gave  a  diplomatic 
deliverance  declaring  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of 
the  Union,  with  emphatic  protest  against  the  lawless 
war  policy  of  the  government.  They  believed  that 
peace  would  come  in  the  end  only  by  a  union  based  on 
compromise,  or  by  the  absolute  severance  of  the  South 
as  an  independent  government. 

It  was  only  natural  and  logical  that  such  a  conven- 
tion, with  such  convictions  and  environment,  would 
call  for  the  ablest  representative  of  the  Democratic 
party  of  the  time  as  the  candidate  for  Governor,  and 
in  that  position  George  W.  Woodward,  of  Luzerne, 
then  a  justice  of  the  supreme  court,  stood  foremost  of 
all  the  Democratic  leaders  of  the  State.  He  was 
nominated  for  Governor,  receiving  75  votes  to  53  for 
Heister  Clymer  and  5  for  Nimrod  Strickland,  and  every 
member  of  the  convention  confidently  expected  him 
to  be  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He  was  chosen 
because  he  was  confessedly  among  the  ablest,  if  not 
the  ablest,  of  the  Democratic  jurists  of  the  State,  as 
it  was  believed  that  when  the  period  of  the  close  of  the 
war  was  reached  the  gravest  constitutional  and  legal 
questions  would  be  presented  to  him  for  solution,  and 
Judge  Woodward  was  regarded  as  the  man  of  all 
others  in  the  Democratic  party  to  meet  such  emer- 
gencies. 

When  the  Democratic  leaders  had  decided  not  to 


Of  Pennsylvania  55 


unite  with  the  Republicans  and  make  common  cause 
with  the  loyal  supporters  of  the  government,  Judge 
Woodward  was  altogether  the  strongest  candidate 
that  could  have  been  presented.  He  was  a  man  of 
most  imposing  presence,  his  symmetrical  form  and 
finely  chiseled  face  towering  above  his  associates, 
sternly  honest  alike  in  conviction  and  action,  genial 
in  intercourse  with  others,  the  peer  of  any  in  judicial 
or  political  disputation,  and  accomplished  in  all  the 
graces  of  a  gentleman.  Such  was  the  candidate  pre- 
sented by  the  Democrats  of  Pennsylvania  to  succeed 
Curtin  in  1863,  and  the  two  distinguished  competitors 
for  the  highest  trust  of  the  Commonwealth  most 
clearly  and  distinctly  represented  the  opposing  political 
convictions  of  the  people.  The  leaders  of  both  sides 
fully  appreciated  the  fact  that  the  judgment  of  Penn- 
sylvania between  the  two  great  parties  in  1863  would 
be  decisive  as  to  the  dominating  political  power  of  the 
State  for  years  to  come. 

The  victories  of  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg  had  re- 
inspired  the  Republicans  of  the  State  to  confidence  in 
the  final  success  of  the  war  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Union,  and  they  at  once  rallied  with  earnest  and  often 
desperate  energy  for  the  great  battle  that  was  before 
them.  To  Wayne  MacVeagh,  of  West  Chester,  since 
foreign  minister  and  National  cabinet  officer,  was 
assigned  the  responsible  task  of  chairman  of  the 
Republican  State  committee.  His  appointment  was 
at  first  ridiculed  by  the  Democratic  leaders  as  the 
advent  of  a  sophomoric  political  amateur,  but  he 
proved  himself  to  be  more  than  equal  to  the  vast  re- 
sponsibilities imposed  upon  him.  Instead  of  being 
the  figurehead  that  his  opponents  had  declared  him  to 
be,  he  at  once  settled  down  to  hard  work  and  soon  had 
the  party  of  the  State  under  the  highest  organization 
and  discipline.    His  familiarity  with  the  public  men 


56  Old  Time  Notes 


of  the  political  centers  of  the  State  made  him  a  master 
in  directing  the  details  of  the  struggle.  He  was  aided 
by  experienced  men  of  tireless  energy,  and  the  organi- 
zation of  the  party  in  every  township  of  the  State  was 
speedily  accomplished.  It  required  little  more  than 
intelligent  and  judicious  direction,  as  never  in  any 
political  contest  that  I  recall  were  the  people  of  both 
parties  so  soberly  earnest  in  political  effort. 

When  the  home  organization  was  thus  perfected,  a 
great  work,  and  the  only  one  that  gave  promise  of 
success,  was  systematically  undertaken  and  carried 
out  with  a  degree  of  perfection  that  has  never  been 
surpassed  in  political  management.  The  75,000  sol- 
diers in  the  field  were  generally  devoted  to  Curtin. 
They  had  learned  to  accept  him  and  speak  of  him  as 
the  "Soldiers'  Friend."  Every  Pennsylvanian  in  the 
field,  however  humble,  who  addressed  the  Governor  on 
any  subject,  however  trivial,  received  a  prompt  answer 
bearing  the  Governor's  signature,  and  always  heartily 
aiding  the  soldier's  wishes  or  fully  explaining  why  they 
could  not  be  acceded  to.  The  Pennsylvania  soldier 
sick  or  wounded  in  a  hospital,  even  though  far  off  in 
the  Southwest,  felt  the  sympathetic  touch  of  Curtin '.s 
devotion  to  the  soldiers  by  the  kind  ministrations  of 
the  Governor's  special  agents  assigned  to  the  task  of 
caring  for  the  helpless  in  the  field.  He  had  announced 
his  purpose  to  have  the  State  declare  the  orphans  of  our 
fallen  soldiers  to  be  the  wards  of  the  Commonwealth, 
a  promise  that  was  more  than  generously  fulfilled,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  soldiers  killed  on  the  field,  or  dying 
from  sickness  or  wounds,  were  always  taken  possession 
of  by  officials  representing  the  patriotic  philanthropy 
of  the  Governor,  and  their  bodies  brought  home  at  the 
expense  of  the  State,  for  sepulture  with  their  loved 
ones  at  home. 

Thus  had  Curtin  not  only  won  the  personal  affection 


of  Pennsylvania 


57 


of  Pennsylvania  soldiers  by  his  practical  devotion  to 
their  interests,  but  he  was  known  to  be  in  earnest 
sympathy  with  their  cause,  and  even  Democratic 
soldiers,  of  whom  there  were  many,  believed  that  the 
issue  directly  affected  their  attitude  as  soldiers  and  the 
care  of  the  State  for  themselves  and  their  families, 
and  their  party  prejudices  largely  perished.  These 
Pennsylvania  soldiers  were  disfranchised  when  the 
"Soldiers'  Friend"  was  upon  trial  before  the  people 
of  the  State  for  the  continuance  of  his  loyal  and  humane 
administration.  The  election  was  held  early  in  Octo- 
ber, a  period  very  favorable  for  military  operations, 
and  it  was  not  possible  to  expect  any  considerable 
number  of  them  to  be  furloughed  home  to  vote. 

The  great  problem  of  the  campaign  that  Chairman 
MacVeagh  had  to  solve  was  how  to  bring  the  influence 
of  the  disfranchised  soldiers  in  the  field  into  practical 
effect  upon  the  fathers,  brothers  and  immediate 
friends  at  home.  There  were  very  few  families  in  the 
State  which  were  not  more  or  less  directly  interested 
in  individual  solders  in  the  field.  Most  of  them  had 
fathers,  sons  or  brothers  offering  their  lives  in  the 
flame  of  battle  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  and 
the  hearts  of  every  one  at  home,  of  fathers,  mothers, 
sons  and  daughters,  brothers  and  sisters,  were  ever 
thoughtful  of  their  friends  at  the  front,  and  ready  to 
do  anything  within  their  power  to  add  to  their  comfort 
and  strengthen  their  hopes  of  success.  One  of  the 
duties  performed  by  Chairman  MacVeagh 's  committee 
was  to  ascertain  every  Democratic  family  that  was 
immediately  represented  in  the  field,  and  there  were 
thousands  of  Pennsylvania  soldiers,  officers  and  pri- 
vates, who  needed  no  special  appeal  to  make  them  take 
up  the  cause  of  the  ''Soldiers'  Friend"  in  the  contest. 
In  their  midst  around  the  campfire  the  question  was 
discussed  by  the  Pennsylvania  soldiers,  and  certainly 


58 


Old  Time  Notes 


three-fourths  of  them  sent  home  the  most  urgent 
appeals  to  their  fathers,  brothers  and  friends  to  vote 
to  sustain  the  patriotic  and  philanthropic  Governor 
of  the  State  as  a  matter  of  duty  in  support  of  the  sol- 
diers' cause.  Not  only  did  the  soldiers  appeal  to  the 
members  of  their  immediate  families,  but  to  their 
many  personal  friends  whom  they  knew  at  home,  and 
the  result  was  a  mute  but  omnipotent  expression  from 
our  soldiers  in  the  field  to  their  relatives  and  friends 
at  home,  that  turned  the  scales  and  made  Pennsylvania, 
with  not  less  than  30,000  majority  of  Democratic 
voters  at  the  polls,  re-elect  Curtin  by  over  15,000 
majority. 

Curtin  had  also  strengthened  his  cause  with  the 
soldiers  by  pressing  upon  the  Legislature  of  1863,  that 
had  adjourned  before  he  was  renominated,  an  amend- 
ment to  the  State  Constitution,  authorizing  the  soldiers 
to  vote  in  the  field,  and  it  had  been  passed  by  both 
branches,  but  without  cordial  support  from  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  It  was  well  understood  that  if  the  Re- 
publicans carried  the  Legislature  at  the  election  of  1863, 
the  new  Legislature,  to  meet  in  January,  1864,  would 
pass  the  proposed  amendment  the  second  time,  as  re- 
quired by  the  fundamental  law,  and  thus  bring  about 
the  right  of  the  soldiers  to  vote  in  the  field.  The  Re- 
publicans carried  the  Legislature  along  with  Curtin; 
the  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution  relating 
to  soldier  suffrage  was  promptly  passed  and  a  special 
election  called  by  the  Legislature  for  its  ratification  by 
the  people  in  midsummer,  so  that  at  the  Presidential 
election  of  1864  the  soldiers  were  given  the  right  of  stif- 
frage  in  the  field. 

Governor  Curtin  was  physically  unable  to  make  a 
general  campaign  of  the  State,  but  he  made  a  few  brief 
speeches,  and  the  desire  to  see  and  hear  him  was  such 
that  when  an  appointment  was  announced  for  him  in 


Of  Pennsylvania 


59 


any  part  of  the  State,  the  people  as  a  rule  came  regard- 
less of  party,  and  his  broken  health,  that  was  so  visible 
to  all,  aroused  his  friends  to  tireless  action  in  his  behalf 
to  relieve  him  as  far  as  possible  from  the  necessity  of 
exhausting  his  enfeebled  powers  in  the  contest.  Judge 
Woodward  made  few  deliverances  in  the  campaign, 
and  they  were  always  of  the  most  dignified  and  cour- 
teous character.  He  avoided  discussion  of  some  of 
the  vital  issues  pressed  by  his  opponents  because  of 
his  position  as  a  judge.  The  constitutionality  of  the 
National  conscription  law  had  been  brought  before  the 
courts,  and  the  case  of  Kneedler  vs.  Lane  was  pending 
in  the  supreme  court,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and 
it  had  been  argued  by  able  counsel  on  both  sides  before 
the  October  election.  The  fact  that  the  decision  of 
the  supreme  court  was  delayed  until  the  9th  of  Novem- 
ber, a  month  after  the  October  election,  made  the  ques- 
tion of  sustaining  the  National  conscription  act  a  vital 
one  on  the  side  of  Curtin  and  his  supporters,  and  Wood- 
ward was  silent  on  the  subject,  as  he  was  a  sitting  judge 
who  had  heard  the  case,  and  must  join  in  delivering 
final  judgment  upon  it. 

Had  the  supreme  court  decided  the  conscription  act 
to  be  unconstitutional  before  the  election,  as  it  did  on 
the  9th  of  November,  a  month  after  the  election,  that 
decision  alone,  if  supported  by  Woodward,  would  have 
defeated  his  election,  and  the  fact  that  the  decision 
was  held  until  after  the  election  became  an  important 
factor  in  hindering  Woodward's  success.  Additional 
embarrassment  was  given  to  the  Democrats  by  the  fact 
that  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  was  the  other  candidate  on 
the  Democratic  State  ticket,  he  having  been  renomi- 
nated to  succeed  himself.  Thus  the  two  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  supreme  court  who  held  the  constitutionality 
of  the  conscription  act  in  their  keeping,  and  failed  to 
announce  a  judgment  before  the  election,  were  aggres- 


6o 


Old  Time  Notes 


sively  antagonized  on  the  conscription  issue,  as  it  was 
well  understood  that  without  a  National  conscription 
act  the  armies  could  not  be  maintained  in  the  field, 
and  both  from  their  judicial  position  were  compelled  to 
maintain  silence,  v/hile  their  party  leaders  could  not 
assume  to  speak  for  them. 

In  all  my  long  participation  in  and  observation  of 
political  campaigns  in  Pennsylvania  I  can  recall  none 
that  approached  the  contest  of  1863  in  impressive 
soberness.  The  wide-awakes  and  the  marching  clubs 
which  made  the  air  ring  with  hearty  hurrahs  in  i860, 
were  imfelt  as  a  factor  in  1863.  There  were  marching 
clubs,  of  course,  but  they  were  not  the  rollicking,  shout- 
ing, caped  and  lanterned  boys  who  had  enlivened  the 
Lincoln  campaign  three  years  before.  The  hurrah 
speeches  of  ordinary  political  campaigns  would  have 
jarred  harshly  upon  the  sensibilities  of  the  political 
audiences.  The  people  came  to  hear  words  of  truth 
and  soberness;  they  came  to  unite  soberly  and  ear- 
nestly for  political  action,  and  their  convictions  and 
their  earnestness  of  purpose  were  ever  with  them.  It 
was  a  struggle  eye  to  eye  and  face  to  face,  not  for  the 
triumph  of  a  party,  but  for  the  triumph  of  a  sacred 
principle  involving  the  life  of  the  Republic.  Such 
were  the  convictions  which  ruled  the  contest,  and  they 
were  universal.  Never  were  so  few  doubtful  voters 
returned  by  political  committees;  never  did  positive 
and  aggressive  conviction  assert  itself  with  so  little 
ceremony  and  ostentation.  The  vote  polled  was  the 
largest  ever  cast  in  the  State,  considering  the  absence 
of  75,000  soldiers,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  while 
Lincoln  received  268,930  votes  in  i860,  giving  him  some 
50,000  majority  over  all,  Curtin  in  1863  received  269,506 
votes,  giving  him  a  majority  of  over  15,000. 

I  met  Judge  Woodward  frequently  during  the  cam- 
paign, and,  like  all  who  knew  him,  I  cherished  not  only 


of  Pennsylvania 


6i 


the  highest  respect  but  a  strong  personal  affection  for 
him.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  partisan  prejudice, 
resulting  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Democrat  of  the 
old  school,  a  strict  constructionist  and  sincerely  con- 
vinced that  there  was  no  safety  to  popular  govern- 
ment in  the  revolutionary  innovations  which  are  ever 
precipitated  by  civil  war.  He  regarded  coercion  as 
imwarranted  by  the  Constitution,  and  logically  held 
that  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  an  act  of 
Executive  usurpation.  On  a  journey  one  afternoon 
from  Philadelphia  to  Allentown,  where  I  was  to  deliver 
an  address  for  Curtin  in  the  evening,  Judge  Woodward 
was  my  companion  on  the  train,  and  we  discussed  the 
political  situation  and  the  war  with  entire  freedom, 
and,  of  course,  with  the  utmost  courtesy.  He  expressed 
his  views  very  earnestly,  because  on  all  the  great  ques- 
tions of  the  day  his  convictions  were  as  earnest  as  they 
were  sincere.  As  we  approached  Allentown  I  asked 
him  in  a  jocular  way  whether  he  would  permit  me  to 
declare  to  the  audience  I  was  to  address  that  evening 
the  views  he  had  expressed  on  various  subjects  relating 
to  the  war,  to  which  he  answered  that  "a  conversation 
in  the  free  intercourse  common  among  gentlemen  is 
of  course  not  for  public  criticism."  He  knew  of 
course  that  I  was  incapable  of  violating  the  sanctity 
of  casual  intercourse  among  friends  I  reminded  him 
that  he  had  two  sons  in  the  army  who  had  won  distinc- 
tion and  stood  among  the  heroic  soldiers  of  the  State, 
and  asked  him  whether  he  or  I  in  the  opposing  positions 
with  the  soldiers  was  best  supporting  the  cause  of  the 
soldiers  in  the  field.  He  answered  with  visible  pride 
that  his  sons  were  soldiers,  and  as  soldiers  they  would 
do  their  duty. 

His  defeat  was  not  only  a  great  disappointment,  but 
a  severe  humiliation.  By  the  retirement  of  Chief 
Justice  Lowrie,  who  was  defeated  at  the  same  election. 


62 


Old  Time  Notes 


Woodward  succeeded  to  the  chief  justiceship,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  few  members  of  our  supreme  court 
whose  judicial  deHverances  ranked  as  approaching 
the  abihty  of  Gibson  as  a  jurist.  After  his  retirement 
from  the  supreme  court,  his  taste  for  poHtical  hfe  that 
had  brought  such  keen  disappointments  in  his  defeat 
by  Cameron  for  Senator  in  1845,  and  his  defeat  for 
Governor  in  1863,  made  him  willing  to  accept  a  nomina- 
tion for  Congress,  and  he  was  twice  elected.  In  the 
House  he  at  once  took  high  rank  as  one  of  the  ablest 
of  the  Democratic  leaders,  but  entirely  tinskilled  in  the 
political  strategy  that  often  makes  men  of  moderate 
intellectual  force  the  masters  of  intellectual  giants  in 
legislation.  During  his  service  in  Congress  he  was 
prominently  discussed  as  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  but  his  political  life  was  ended, 
and  he  never  was  formally  presented  as  a  candidate 
by  his  State. 

He  had  roimded  out  his  patriarchal  years,  and  he 
turned  back  to  his  first  love,  the  court  of  common  pleas, 
and  announced  his  willingness  to  accept  the  nomination 
from  the  Democracy  of  Luzerne  for  that  position, 
intending  to  end  his  career  in  the  calm  and  quiet  of 
local  administration  of  justice.  He  was  promptly 
nominated,,  but  those  were  times  when  local  and  general 
political  tempests  were  common,  and  to  the  surprise 
of  friends  and  foes,  and  to  the  fearful  humiliation  of 
the  great  jurist  himself,  he  was  largely  defeated  by 
the  Republican  candidate.  Soon  thereafter  he  went 
abroad,  where  his  culture  could  find  pleasant  enjoy- 
ment, and  on  the  nth  of  May,  1875,  "^^^^  swift  message 
that  traverses  the  seas  with  the  rapidity  of  the  lightning 
flash,  told  the  story  of  his  death.  The  supreme  court 
was  sitting  at  Harrisburg,  and  a  case  was  on  for  hearing 
in  which  I  was  to  make  the  closing  argument  on  the 
following  morning.    The  cable  despatch  was  received 


Of  Pennsylvania 


63 


announcing  his  death  just  a  few  minutes  before  the 
period  of  adjournment.  Soon  after  the  adjournment 
I  was  notified  by  the  chief  justice  that  I  should  deliver 
my  argimient  in  the  pending  case  the  next  morning, 
and  when  it  was  concluded,  announce  the  death  of 
Chief  Justice  Woodward  to  the  court,  and  then  move 
adjournment.  The  next  morning  I  delivered  my 
argument  on  the  pending  case,  and  when  through  with 
it  announced  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Woodward 
in  a  brief  address,  of  which  the  following  was  the  con- 
cluding paragraph: 

And  now  in  the  fullness  of  his  days,  ripe  in  years  and 
wearing  the  chaplet  of  honors  that  even  malice  would 
not  dare  to  stain,  he  has  passed  away.  The  fitful 
clouds  and  angry  tempests  of  prejudice  and  passion, 
which  9.t  times  obscure  the  attributes  of  greatness, 
have  long  since  vanished  like  the  mists  of  the  morning, 
and  in  the  calm,  bright  evening  time,  he  who  so  justly 
j  udged  between  man  and  man  appears  before  the  great 
Judge  of  all  the  living.  But  his  blameless  life,  his  pure 
example,  his  reverenced  judgments  remain,  and  like  the 
beautiful  dream  of  the  departed  stm  that  throws  its 
halo  over  the  countless  jewels  which  soften  the  deep 
lines  of  darkness,  so  will  his  lessons  of  wisdom  and 
honesty  illumine  the  path  of  public  and  private  duty 
for  generations  to  come.  In  respect  to  his  memory  I 
move  that  the  court  do  now  adjourn." 


64 


Old  Time  Notes 


LVIII. 

THE  GREAT  CONSCRIPTION  BATTLE. 

The  Complete  Story  of  the  Efforts  Made  to  Declare  the  National  Con- 
scription Act  Unconstitutional  by  a  State  Court — Volunteering  Had 
Ceased  and  Conscription  Was  the  Only  Hope  of  Filling  the  Union 
Armies — Proceedings  Instituted  at  Nisi  Prius  Before  Judge  Wood- 
ward, Who  Summoned  the  Entire  Court  to  Hear  and  Decide  the  Im- 
portant Question — After  Exhaustive  Argument  Decision  Delayed 
Until  After  the  Election — The  Court,  by  Three  to  Two,  Declared  the 
Act  Unconstitutional — Chief  Justice  Lowrie  Was  Defeated  by  Justice 
Agnew — On  Final  Hearing  Justice  Agnew,  Successor  to  Chief  Justice 
Lowrie,  Reversed  Preliminary  Hearing  and  Declared  the  Conscription 
Act  Constitutional. 

THE  most  momentous  question  ever  submitted 
to  the  supreme  court  of  Pennsylvania  for  its 
arbitrament  arose  in  1863,  and  was  doubly 
momentous  because  of  its  immediate  bearing  upon  the 
gubernatorial  contest  of  that  year,  and  also  upon  the 
power  of  the  State  to  furnish  its  quota  of  troops  to  the 
Union  army.  The  case  is  known  to  the  profession  as 
Kneedler  vs.  Lane  (9  Wright,  238),  but  there  were 
really  three  plaintiffs  m  the  case J  as  three  conscripts 
joined  in  the  legal  proceeding  to  restrain  the  provost 
marshal  from  forcing  them  into  the  military  service  of 
the  government.  The  parties  to  the  action  were 
Henry  S.  Kneedler  vs.  David  M.  Lane,  Charles  S.  Bar- 
rett, J.  Ralston  Wills,  Isaac  Ashman,  Jr.  The  second 
was  Francis  V.  Smith,  against  the  same  defendants. 
The  third  was  William  Francis  Nickells  vs.  William  E. 
Lehman,  N.  N.  MarselHs,  Charles  Murphy  and  Eben- 
ezer  Scanlan.  Lane  and  Lehman  were  provost  mar- 
shals under  the  conscription  act,  and  their  associate 
defendants  were  the  men  who  made  up  what  was  called 


Of  Pennsylvania 


6s 


the  enrolling  board,  of  which  there  was  one  in  each 
congressional  district. 

Volunteering  had  ceased,  and  it  became  a  necessity 
for  the  government  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  its  armies  by 
conscription,  or  permit  the  Union  to  be  overthrown 
by  armed  rebellion.  Congress  responded  to  this  con- 
dition by  passing  ''An  act  for  enrolling  and  calling 
out  the  National  forces,  and  for  other  purposes, ' '  that 
was  approved  March  3,  1863.  The  plaintiffs  received 
notice  that  they  had  been  drafted  into  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States,  and  that  from  the  time 
of  receiving  such  notice  they  were  under  military  regu- 
lations and  subject  to  military  rules,  although  not  yet 
mustered  into  the  service,  and  if  they  failed  to  report 
for  duty  at  the  time  and  place  specified,  the  act  pro- 
vided that  they  should  be  ''deemed  as  deserters  and 
subject  to  the  penalty  prescribed  therefor  by  the  rules 
and  articles  of  war." 

In  those  days  one  member  of  the  supreme  court  usually 
was  assigned  to  sit  at  nisi  prius,  and  the  plaintiffs  filed 
bills  before  Judge  Woodward  asking  that  the  defend- 
ants be  restrained  from  forcing  them  into  military 
service,  and  that  they  be  discharged.  The  im.portance 
of  the  case  made  Judge  Woodward  decide  that  it 
should  be  heard  by  a  full  court,  and  he  fixed  the  23d 
of  September,  1863,  for  the  plaintiffs  and  defendants  to 
be  heard  by  counsel  before  a  full  court  in  Philadelphia. 
On  the  day  named  all  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
were  present,  consisting  of  Walter  H.  Lowrie,  of  Alle- 
gheny, chief  justice,  with  George  W.  Woodward,  of 
Luzerne;  James  Thompson,  of  Erie;  William  Strong, 
of  Berks,  and  John  M.  Read,  of  Philadelphia,  justices. 
The  political  complexion  of  the  court  was  four  to  one 
Democratic,  Justice  Read  being  the  only  Republican. 
George  A.  Coffee,  United  States  district  attorney; 
John  C.  Knox  and  J.  Hubley  Ashton,  who  were  tinder- 


66 


Old  Time  Notes 


stood  to  be  associated  with  the  district  attorney  in 
the  case,  were  notified  by  the  court  of  the  time  and 
place  of  hearing,  but  when  the  case  was  called  no 
counsel  appeared  for  the  defendants,  and  George  M. 
Wharton,  Peter  McCall,  Charles  Ingersoll  and  George 
W.  Biddle  appeared  for  the  plaintiffs.  The  court  re- 
fused to  proceed  with  the  case  until  furnished  proof 
of  ample  notice  to  the  counsel  who  represented  the 
defendants,  and  a  special  messenger  was  dispatched 
by  the  court  to  ascertain  whether  such  notice  had  been 
received,  but  the  only  answer  given  was  that  the 
defendants  would  not  be  represented  by  counsel  in 
the  proceeding. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  political  considerations  had 
something,  perhaps  very  much,  to  do  with  the  failure 
of  the  defendants  to  appear  by  counsel.  The  Repub- 
licans assumed  that  the  supreme  court  of  the  State 
had  no  authority  whatever  to  pass  upon  the  constitu- 
tionality of  a  National  law,  and  the  fact  that  Justice 
Woodward  had  entertained  the  proceedings  and  sum- 
moned the  entire  court  to  hear  the  case  within  two 
weeks  of  one  of  the  most  important  elections  ever  held 
in  the  State,  when  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  was  the  nom- 
inee of  his  party  for  re-election  and  Justice  Woodward 
the  nominee  of  his  party  for  Governor,  gave  the  Repub- 
licans what  they  regarded  as  an  opportunity  to  em- 
phasize their  aggressive  hostility  to  such  interference 
by  the  State  judicial  authority  to  obstruct  the  execu- 
tion of  a  National  law  that  was  the  government's  sole 
dependence  in  filling  up  our  depleted  army  in  the  field. 
The  case  was  ably  argued  chiefly  by  Mr.  Wharton  and 
Mr.  Biddle,  and  the  decision  was  withheld  until  the 
9th  of  November,  one  month  after  the  October  election, 
when  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  had  been  defeated  by  Judge 
Agnew,  and  when  Woodward  had  been  defeated  for 
Governor  by  Curt  in. 


of  Pennsylvania 


67 


This  case  entered  into  the  State  campaign  at  an  early 
stage,  and  it  hung  Hke  a  shadow  over  the  loyal  men  of 
the  Commonwealth,  as  they  feared  that  a  court  com- 
posed of  four  Democrats  with  only  one  Republican 
might  decide  to  declare  the  conscription  act  unconsti- 
tutional, and  thus  not  only  hinder  the  reinforcement 
of  our  armies,  but  bring  the  State  into  actual  conflict 
with  the  National  authority. 

The  Republicans  were  tirelessly  aggressive  in  assail- 
ing the  Democrats  and  the  court,  of  which  both  of  the 
Democratic  candidates  on  the  State  ticket  were  mem- 
bers, as  interposing  to  prevent  the  government  from 
preserving  its  own  life,  and  it  was  the  common  theme 
of  every  Republican  orator  on  the  hustings.  The 
Democrats  could  only  answer  that  the  case  was  before 
an  able  and  upright  court,  whose  decision  they  were 
prepared  to  accept,  and  that  it  was  not  an  issue  for 
popular  discussion  in  the  campaign. 

It  was  not  then  known,  but  Curtis'  ''Life  of  Buch- 
anan" brings  out  the  fact,  that  ex- President  Buch- 
anan felt  that  the  issue  was  one  of  such  magnitude 
that  he  departed  from  the  generally  uniform  rule  of 
his  life,  and  wrote  an  earnest  personal  letter  to  Justice 
Woodward,  urging  him  to  sustain  the  constitutionality 
of  the  National  conscription  law  as  the  only  means  of 
safety,  alike  for'  the  nation  and  for  the  party. 

Long  before  the  battle  ended  it  became  whispered  in 
political  circles  that  Justice  Strong  was  quite  likely  to 
sustain  the  conscription  law.  He  had  always  been  an 
earnest  Democrat,  had  represented  the  Democrats  of 
Berks  in  Congress,  and  was  elected  to  the  supreme 
cotirt  in  1857  along  with  Judge  Thompson.  The  law 
then  provided,  as  it  now  does,  that  when  two  supreme 
judges  are  elected  at  the  same  time  they  must  decide 
by  lot  which  shall  receive  the  senior  commission  and 
thus  become  chief  justice.    Judge  Thompson  drew 


68 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  senior  commission  and  roimded  out  his  highly 
creditable  judicial  career  by  four  years'  service  as 
chief  justice. 

When  Thompson  became  chief  justice  in  1867,  Judge 
Strong  resigned,  chiefly  because  there  was  no  hope  of 
him  obtaining  the  highest  judicial  honors  of  the  State, 
and  he  located  in  Philadelphia  to  resume  the  practice 
of  law.  The  position  occupied  by  Judge  Strong  was 
one  of  peculiar  embarrassment.  He  had  represented 
the  Democratic  party  in  high  civil  positions,  both 
political  and  judical,  and  he  certainly  cherished  the 
highest  personal  respect  for  his  associate.  Justice  Wood- 
ward, who  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor; 
but  he  felt  that  the  issue  was  so  grave,  and  his  duty  so 
clear  and  imperative,  that  he  voted  against  his  friend 
for  Governor,  and  when  the  supreme  court  gave  its 
decision  in  Pittsburg,  on  the  9th  of  November,  1863, 
Strong  wrote  an  able  and  earnest  dissenting  opinion. 

The  question  was  considered  of  such  exceptional 
importance  that  each  member  of  the  court  filed  an 
elaborate  opinion.  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  delivering 
what  was  given  as  the  decision  of  the  court.  The 
opinion  of  Lowrie  is  temperate  in  tone.  He  opened 
with  an  expression  of  regret  that  the  defendants  had 
not  been  heard  by  counsel,  to  which  he  added:  "For 
want  of  this  assistance  I  cannot  feel  such  an  entire 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  my  conclusions  as  I  would 
otherwise  have.  I  cannot  be  sure  that  I  have  not  over- 
looked some  grounds  of  argument  that  are  of  decisive 
importance,  but  the  decision  now  to  be  made  is  only 
prehminary  to  the  final  hearing,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
the  views  of  the  law  officers  of  the  government  will  not 
then  be  withheld."  This  declaration  of  the  chief  jus- 
tice, who  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  court,  becomes 
specially  important  when  it  is  read  in  connection  with 
the  final  dissenting  opinion  of  Justice  Woodward. 


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Chief  Justice  Lowrie  declares  that  the  decision  is  only 
preliminary  to  the  final  hearing,  while  Woodward 
declares  that  it  was  the  final  judgment  of  the  court  in 
the  case. 

The  chief  objection  presented  by  the  three  judges, 
who  declared  the  conscription  act  iinconstitutional, 
was  that  while  Congress  had  power  to  raise  and  support 
armies,  it  was  required  to  call  out  the  militia  of  the 
several  States  to  execute  the  laws,  to  suppress  insur- 
rection or  to  repel  invasion.  The  conscription  act  did 
not  call  for  the  militia  of  the  several  States,  although 
it  called  upon  precisely  the  same  men  who  constituted 
the  militia  of  the  Commonwealths,  but  they  all  agreed 
that  if  Congress  did  possess  the  power  to  call  upon  the 
men  composing  the  militia  of  the  State  to  reinforce 
the  armies,  the  method  of  executing  the  law  was 
entirely  imwarranted. 

The  opinion  of  the  supreme  court,  as  delivered  by 
Chief  Justice  Lowrie,  concluded  with  the  order  dated 
November  9,  1863,  granting  a  preliminary  injunction 
in  each  of  the  cases,  but  requiring  the  plaintiffs  to  give 
bond  with  approved  surety  in  the  sum  of  $500,  and  the 
injunctions  refused  for  any  other  purpose. 

Justice  Woodward  in  his  opinion  was  much  more 
emphatic  in  his  condemnation  of  the  National  conscrip- 
tion law.  He  denied  that  Congress  had  the  power  to 
draft  the  militia  into  the  service  of  the  government 
when  engaged  in  a  foreign  war,  and  he  added  that  ''the 
power  of  draft  to  suppress  insurrection  is  not  to  be 
employed,  since  another  mode  of  suppressing  insur- 
rection is  expressly  provided.'*  Again  he  said,  ''The 
great  vice  of  the  conscript  law  is  that  it  is  designed  on 
the  assumption  that  Congress  may  take  away,  not  the 
State  rights  of  the  citizen,  but  the  security  and  founda- 
tion of  his  State  rights,  and  how  long  is  civil  liberty 
expected  to  last  after  the  securities  of  civil  liberty  are 


70 


Old  Time  Notes 


destroyed?"  Justice  Thompson's  opinion  was  quite 
as  elaborate  as  the  others,  in  which  his  constitutional 
objections  to  the  conscription  laws  are  stated  in  the 
most  dignified  and  courteous  manner.  He  insisted  that 
the  act  ''plainly  and  directly  destroys  the  militia 
system  of  the  States  as  recognized  in  the  Constitution. " 
While  thus  denying  the  right  of  Congress  to  reinforce 
our  armies  under  the  provisions  of  the  conscription  law, 
he  expressed  himself  with  great  emphasis  in  favor  of 
suppressing  the  Rebellion.  He  said :  "  There  is  nothing 
on  earth  that  I  so  much  desire  as  to  witness  the  sup- 
pression of  the  unjustifiable  and  monstrous  Rebellion. 
It  must  be  put  down  to  save  the  Constitution,  and  the 
constitutional  means  for  the  purpose  I  believe  to  be 
ample,  but  we  gain  but  little  if  in  our  efforts  to  preserve 
it  from  assault  in  one  quarter  we  voluntarily  impair 
other  portions  of  it." 

The  dissenting  opinion  of  Judge  Strong  attracted 
very  general  attention  not  only  in  the  State,  but 
throughout  the  country,  as  he  was  known  to  be  trained 
in  the  same  Democratic  school  with  Judges  Lowrie, 
Woodward  and  Thompson,  and  had  worn  Democratic 
honors.  He  sustained  the  constitutionality  of  the  act 
in  all  its  details,  and  Judge  Read  delivered  a  more 
elaborate  dissenting  opinion  broadly  sustaining  the 
National  law  and  refusing  an  injimction  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  plaintiffs. 

As  previously  stated,  both  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  and 
Justice  Woodward  had  been  defeated  for  supreme 
judge  and  Governor  just  a  month  before  the  preliminary 
injunction  had  been  granted,  and  less  than  three  weeks 
before  the  retirement  of  Chief  Justice  Lowrie  to  be 
succeeded  by  Justice  Agnew. 

On  the  12th  of  December,  1863,  when  Agnew  had 
taken  the  place  of  Lowrie  in  the  court,  Judge  Strong 
was  holding  court  in  nisi  prius  in  Philadelphia,  and 


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71 


ex- Judge  John  C.  Knox  appeared  before  him  for  the 
defendants  in  each  of  the  several  cases,  and  appealed 
to  the  coiirt  to  dissolve  the  injvinctions  which  had  been 
granted.  Judge  Strong  received  the  motion  and 
appointed  the  30th  of  December  for  their  hearing,  and, 
as  in  the  former  case,  requested  his  brethren  to  sit  with 
him  so  that  the  case  might  be  heard  by  a  full  court. 
On  the  day  named  a  full  court  appeared  in  Philadel- 
phia, and  the  case  was  fully  argued  by  Knox  for  the 
defendants  and  by  Biddle,  McCall  and  Ingersoll  for 
the  plaintiffs. 

On  the  1 6th  day  of  January,  1864,  the  final  decision 
of  the  court  was  rendered,  Justice  Strong  writing  the 
opinion,  which  was  concurred  in  by  Read  and  Agnew, 
and  dissented  from  by  Woodward  and  Thompson. 
The  order  of  the  court  was  as  follows:  '*And  now,  to 
wit,  January  16,  1864,  it  is  ordered  by  the  court  that 
the  orders  heretofore  made  in  all  these  cases  be  vacated 
and  the  motions  for  injunctions  are  overruled."  The 
concluding  sentence  of  the  opinion  of  the  court,  delivered 
by  Judge  Strong,  is  in  these  words :  "I  am  satisfied  that 
the  bills  of  the  complainants  have  no  equity  and  the 
act  of  Congress  is  such  as  Congress  has  the  constitu- 
tional power  to  enact." 

Justices  Read  and  Agnew  also  delivered  separate 
concurring  opinions.  Justice  Read's  opinion  concludes 
in  these  words:  ''The  armies  of  the  Union  are  not 
fighting  for  any  single  State,  but  they  are  fighting  for 
their  common  cotintry,  the  United  States  of  America, 
as  Americans,  and  those  who  have  perished  in  this  con- 
test for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  have  died  under 
the  National  flag  which,  I  trust,  will  soon  wave  over 
the  whole  undivided  territory  of  our  glorious  and  once 
happy  Union."  Justice  Agnew  delivered  his  first 
opinion  in  this  case,  and  he  approaches  the  important 
duty  of  reversing  a  former  judgment  of  the  same  court 


72 


Old  Time  Notes 


in  a  somewhat  apologetic  manner.  He  referred  to 
the  fact  that  the  claim  was  made  that  a  new  member 
of  the  court  was  bound  by  the  rule  of  stare  decisis.  He 
said  he  bowed  to  that  doctrine  as  a  safe  maxim  wherever 
it  applies,  but  he  added:  I  must  decide  as  my  views 
and  conscience  dictate,  and  why  not  now?  I  find  the 
case  before  me  and  I  certainly  cannot  decide  it  against 
all  my  convictions  of  law,  duty  and  patriotism."  His 
opinion  is  the  most  elaborate  of  all  those  delivered  by 
the  court. 

Chief  Justice  Woodward,  who  had  succeeded  to  the 
head  of  the  court  by  the  retirement  of  Lowrie,  delivered 
a  most  vigorous  dissenting  opinion,  in  which  Chief 
Justice  Thompson  concurred.  He  declared  the  pro- 
ceeding to  be  extraordinary,  as  the  decision  given  on 
the  9th  of  November,  at  the  preliminary  hearing,  ''was 
as  regular,  fair  and  solemn  a  judgment  as  this  court 
ever  rendered.''  He  insisted  that  it  was  final,  and  it 
was  not  within  the  power  of  the  court  to  reverse  it, 
even  though  the  personnel  of  the  judges  changed. 
Chief  Justice  Woodward  was  a  man  of  strong  and  earn- 
est conviction,  and  his  elaborate  dissenting  opinion  in 
the  case  bristles  with  fearless  criticism  of  the  action  of 
the  court  in  permitting  a  change  of  judges  to  change  its 
judgment,  and  also  with  the  most  pronoimced  expres- 
sions against  the  power  of  Congress  to  enforce  such  a 
conscription  law. 

I  have  given  in  brief  the  story  of  the  National  con- 
scription crisis  that  convulsed  the  State  in  1863.  The 
three  Democratic  judges,  Messrs.  Lowrie,  Woodward 
and  Thompson,  who  decided  against  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  conscription  law,  were  bitterly  denounced 
at  the  time  for  disloyalty  to  the  government  and 
unfaithfulness  to  their  high  judicial  ofQce,  but  as  the 
intense  passions  of  fratricidal  war  and  of  the  partisan 
strife  that  was  accentuated  by  it  have  gradually  per- 


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ished,  all  have  accorded  to  those  three  great  judges  the 
credit  of  sincerity  in  the  exercise  of  the  highest  judicial 
qualities  in  rendering  the  decision.  They  had  been 
trained  in  the  political  school  that  accepted  the  resolu- 
tions of  1798,  which  came  from  the  great  political 
teachers — Jefferson  and  Madison — and  with  their  long 
judicial  experience  and  the  isolation  it  involved  from 
the  world's  progress  it  is  not  surprising  that  they 
revolted  against  the  violent,  indeed  revolutionary, 
methods  which  become  imperious  when  grave  peril 
confronts  the  government.  They  were  simply  unmind- 
ful that  ''uncommon  things  make  common  things 
forgot,"  and  that  revolutionary  perils  often  demand 
revolutionary  protection. 

The  considerate  judgment  of  the  State  and  of  the 
country  to-day  is  that  their  judgment  was  erroneous, 
but  all  of  them  retired  from  the  judicial  position  that 
they  had  adorned  without  public  or  private  blemish, 
and  they  are  all  named  to-day  among  the  men  who  have 
added  to  the  luster  of  the  first  judicial  tribunal  of  the 
State. 


74 


Old  Time  Notes 


LIX. 

LEE'S  INVASION  A  NECESSITY. 

Hooker's  Brilliant  Strategy  in  Crossing  the  R^appahannock  to  Meet  Lee 
When  Hesitation  Lost  Him  the  Battle — The  Story  of  Hooker's 
Wounds — Great  Depression  Among  the  Loyal  People  of  the  North — 
The  Blunder  of  the  Confederacy — The  Northern  Invasion  Was 
Enforced  with  a  Hope  of  Winning  a  Decisive  Victory  over  the  Union 
Army,  and  Securing  the  Recognition  of  England  and  Franc©. 

THE  struggle  between  the  legions  of  Caesar  and 
Pompey  on  the  Plains  of  Pharsalia  was  not 
more  decisive  of  the  destiny  of  Rome  than  was 
the  battle  of  Gettysburg  in  deciding  the  destiny  of 
the  Confederacy.  Many  bloody  battles  were  fought 
thereafter  between  the  Union  and  the  Confederate 
armies  before  the  war  ended,  solely  because  the  most 
earnest  and  most  heroic  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  world 
were  engaged  in  fratricidal  conflict,  and  suiTender  was 
unthought  of  while  battle  could  be  waged.  After  all 
the  bloody  conflicts  between  the  armies  of  Grant  and 
Lee,  and  Sherman  and  Johnson,  in  1864,  Appomattox 
was  simply  the  echo  of  Gettysburg. 

To  reach  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  and  its  decisive  judgment  against  the  Con- 
federacy, the  whole  situation  from  military,  political 
and  material  standpoints  should  be  well  considered. 
Much  discussion  has  been  inspired  and  many  con- 
flicting views  presented  as  to  the  considerations  which 
decided  the  Confederate  leaders  to  inaugurate  the  fatal 
Gettysburg  campaign.  The  people  of  the  North  were 
greatly  discouraged  by  the  failure  of  the  Union  armies 
to  achieve  the  victories  so  confidently  expected.  The 
North  had  overwhelming  numbers  in  the  field,  but  their 


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different  armies  were  operating  in  an  enemy's  country 
with  long  lines  of  supplies  which  greatly  reduced  the 
effective  fighting  force,  and  they  had  the  generally 
more  serious  disadvantage  of  being  compelled,  as  a  rule, 
to  attack  the  enemy  in  chosen  positions  where  his 
inferior  numbers  were  more  than  atoned  for  by  strictly 
defensive  strategy  and  tactics. 

Hooker  had  opened  the  campaign  of  1863  by  moving 
out  with  his  grand  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  attack  Lee 
south  of  the  Rappahannock.  He  was  a  magnificent 
specimen  of  the  American  soldier,  a  born  fighter  and 
possessing  absolute  faith  in  his  ability  to  march  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  to  Richmond,  or  to  any  other 
points  in  the  South.  I  saw  him  in  the  war  office  a 
fortnight  before  he  made  his  movement,  and  he  was  a 
most  interesting  study.  His  handsome  features,  with 
a  complexion  as  silken  as  a  woman's,  and  his  bright 
blue  eyes  gi^andly  reflected  the  enthusiasm  of  the  new 
commander.  He  conversed  with  great  freedom  on  the 
campaign  he  was  about  to  open,  and  I  well  remember 
his  answer  to  my  question  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  his 
force  to  meet  the  enemy  in  chosen  and  fortified  posi- 
tions. He  said  he  would  cross  the  Rapidan  without 
losing  a  man,  which  he  did,  and  that  he  could  then 
march  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  the  Rappahan- 
nock to  New  Orleans.  To  use  his  own  Westemism,  for 
he  was  among  the  Forty-niners"  in  California,  he  told 
me  that  when  he  crossed  the  Rappahannock  he  would 
take  the  enemy  ''where  the  hair  is  short." 

His  march  until  he  crossed  the  river  is  admitted  by 
all  experienced  military  men  of  the  coimtry  to  have  been 
a  masterly  strategic  movement,  but  when  he  was  face 
to  face  with  the  enemy,  then  for  the  first  time  his 
limitations  were  exhibited.  If  he  had  marched  directly 
from  the  Chancellorsville  house,  with  Lee's  command 
immediately  in  his  front,  and  forced  the  battle,  his 


76 


Old  Time  Note. 


overwhelming  numbers  could  hardly  have  failed  to 
break  Lee 's  army  in  the  center,  and  he  then  could  have 
defeated  it  in  detail;  but  he  hesitated,  and  his  hesita- 
tion was  fatal. 

While  standing  on  the  veranda  of  the  Chancellors- 
ville  house,  a  solid  ball  from  the  enemy's  artillery 
struck  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  house,  split  a  large  piece 
from  it  that  was  hurled  with  great  violence  upon  Hooker 
and  struck  him  squarely  on  the  breast.  He  fell  insen- 
sible and  remained  so  for  a  half  hour  or  more.  Stimu- 
lants were  applied,  and,  when  he  was  restored  to  con- 
sciousness, his  first  utterance  was  a  command  that  no 
movement  should  be  made  by  the  army  until  he  gave 
the  orders  himself.  General  Couch,  senior  officer  of 
the  army  next  to  Hooker,  was  present,  and  greatly  to 
his  regret  he  was  thus  forbidden  by  his  commander  to 
make  any  movement. 

It  was  this  hesitation  and  this  accident,  and  this  order 
from  Hooker,  that  enabled  Jackson  to  divide  Lee's 
army  in  front  of  Hooker,  make  his  rapid  detour  and 
strike  the  right  of  Hooker's  army  on  front  and  flank, 
defeating  and  routing  Howard's  corps  and  compelling 
the  final  retreat  of  the  army  back  to  the  northern  side 
of  the  Rappahannock.  This  disaster  to  Hooker's  right 
wing  deprived  General  Sedgwick,  commander  of  the  left 
wing,  then  occupying  Fredericksburg,  of  the  support  he 
had  been  promised  and  confidently  expected,  and  an 
overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy  attacked  him  and 
compelled  him  to  retreat  with  very  serious  loss. 

Such  was  the  impromising  opening  of  the  third  year 
of  the  war,  and  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the  North 
was  greatly  chilled  by  our  multiplied  disasters.  Gen- 
eral Grant  was  then  besieging  Vicksburg,  and  he  had 
twice  attempted  to  carry  the  enemy's  defenses  by 
assault,  but  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss,  and  very 
grave  doubts  were  cherished  as  to  his  final  success  in 


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winning  that  Confederate  stronghold,  the  final  capture 
of  which,  as  Lincoln  so  well  expressed  it,  enabled  the 
Father  of  Waters  to  ''again  go  tin  vexed  to  the  sea." 
The  military  situation  vintil  the  Fourth  of  July  was 
such  as  to  offer  little  encouragement  to  the  North  to 
hope  for  substantial  victories  over  the  Confederate 
armies. 

The  government  had  exhausted  its  resources  and 
energies  to  create  an  ironclad  navy.  It  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  little  Monitor  by  Captain  Ericsson  in 
its  battle  with  the  iron-mailed  Merrimac  that  revolu- 
tionized naval  warfare  in  a  day,  and  we  had  in  the  early 
part  of  1863  an  iron-clad  fleet  that  was  regarded  by 
many  as  invincible.  It  was  believed  quite  capable 
of  fighting  its  way  into  Charleston,  and  capturing  that 
city,  the  fountain  of  rebellion,  and  it  was  decided  that 
the  despair  of  the  people  over  military  failures  should 
be  dissipated  by  a  triumph  of  our  ironclads  in  Charles- 
ton. The  ironclad  fleet  was  concentrated  and  hastened 
to  the  South  Carolina  waters.  There  was  no  secrecy 
in  the  movement,  and  it  became  generally  known  that 
on  a  particular  day  the  fleet  would  be  there  and  fight 
its  way  into  the  harbor  and  capture  the  forts  and  city. 

The  loyal  North  turned  to  this  expedition  as  the  one 
movement  that  was  certain  to  turn  the  tide  of  battle 
and  inspire  the  North  by  a  substantial  victory  in  the 
one  place  in  the  South  that  was  regarded  as  most 
responsible  for  the  fratricidal  conflict.  I  accompanied 
Governor  Curtin  to  Washington  the  day  before  the 
attack  was  to  be  made,  and  we  spent  the  entire  day 
and  night  until  long  after  the  midnight  hour  waiting 
for  news  at  the  Navy  Department,  but  none  came. 
Greatly  disappointed,  we  returned  to  our  hotel  and 
were  back  in  the  White  House  immediately  after  break- 
fast, and  found  President  Lincoln  in  the  office  of  his 
secretary.    He  informed  us  that  no  news  had  yet  been 


78 


Old  Time  Notes 


received  from  the  fleet.  I  have  many  times  heard  him 
discuss  the  sorrows  and  sacrifices  of  war  when  his  great 
sympathetic  heart  poured  out  upon  his  sleeve  the  sorrow 
that  he  keenly  shared  of  those  who  suffered  from  war, 
but  I  never  heard  him  discuss  the  war  as  earnestly  as  he 
did  on  that  occasion.  He  knew  that  the  loyal  North 
was  struggling  on  in  despair,  and  he  felt  that  if  Hooker's 
disaster  at  Chancellorsville  and  Grant's  repulses  at 
Vicksburg  were  followed  up  by  a  repulse  of  our  fleet 
at  Charleston,  the  effect  would  be  most  serious. 

Suddenly  the  door  opened  and  the  face  of  Secretary 
Welles  was  partly  thrust  in  as  he  beckoned  the  Presi- 
dent from  the  room.  The  moment  we  saw  him  all 
knew  that  he  had  no  welcome  message  to  bring.  The 
President  left,  asking  us  to  remain,  as  he  would  return 
as  soon  as  he  could  give  definite  information.  In  half 
an  hour  he  came  back  with  his  sad  face  deepened  in 
sorrow  as  he  told  us  that  the  fleet  had  been  repulsed, 
and  that  the  attempt  to  capture  Charleston  was  abso- 
lutely hopeless. 

Such  was  the  military  situation  in  June,  1863,  when 
the  Confederate  government  committed  the  fatal  error 
of  transferring  the  war  to  the  North  by  the  invasion 
of  Pennsylvania,  whereby  Lee's  army,  that  was  always 
outnumbered  in  men  and  guns  by  the  Union  army, 
gave  up  the  advantages  of  defensive  campaigns  in 
which  the  strength  of  the  enemy  could  be  neutralized, 
and  marched  into  Pennsylvania,  weakening  his  army 
as  he  moved  by  the  necessity  of  protecting  his  lines  of 
supplies,  and  challenging  the  Union  army  to  battle 
where  its  largest  numbers  could  be  best  concentrated. 
The  movement  was  entirely  at  variance  with  Lee's 
military  policy  and  certainly  never  was  advised  by 
him  as  a  desirable  movement  from  a  military  stand- 
point. Viewing  the  Gettysburg  campaign  from  the 
surface  as  presented  by  history,  it  will  be  pronoimced 


of  Pennsylvania 


79 


by  all  as  a  blunder  worse  than  a  crime,  but  when  the 
facts  are  carefully  winnowed  out  from  the  chaff  of 
conflicting  disputation  it  is  not  difficult  to  imderstand 
why  the  invasion  of  Pennsylvania  was  decided  upon  by 
the  Confederate  government. 

I  have  had  many  opportunities  of  conversing  with 
the  leading  Confederate  officials  of  that  time,  including 
such  as  President  Davis,  Vice-President  Stephens,  Post- 
master General  Regan,  Senator  Orr  and  others,  and  with 
such  military  chieftains  as  Johnson,  Longstreet,  Beaure- 
gard, Pemberton,  Hamilton,  Fitzhugh  and  Custis  Lee, 
Imboden,  Chief  of  Staff  Taylor,  Alexander,  and  many 
others,  who  were  well  informed  on  the  subject. 

During  a  visit  to  Jefferson  Davis,  at  his  home  in 
Mississippi,  some  ten  years  after  the  war,  where  he 
received  me  most  hospitably,  he  spoke  with  great  free- 
dom on  all  matters  relating  to  the  war,  after  exacting 
the  assurance  that  no  publication  should  be  made  of 
his  utterances  without  his  approval.  I  asked  him 
why  he  had  decided  to  send  his  army  far  from  its  base 
to  meet  an  army  that  largely  outnumbered  it,  in  the 
enemy's  coimtry.  His  answer  was  that  the  move- 
ment was  a  necessity;  that  it  v/as  believed  that  Lee's 
army  could  defeat  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  wherever 
they  might  meet,  and  that  such  a  victory  won  on 
Northern  soil  was  most  important  to  the  Confederacy. 
I  asked  him  distinctly  whether  General  Lee  had  advised 
the  Gettysburg  campaign  as  a  wise  movement  from  a 
military  standpoint,  and  he  answered  evasively  by 
saying  that  it  would  not  have  been  undertaken  if  he 
had  not  approved  it.  General  Longstreet  has  criti- 
cised this  statement  when  I  gave  it  in  another  place, 
and  declared  that  General  Lee  advised  the  Gettysburg 
campaign  and  that  he  had  personal  knowledge  of  the 
fact.  General  Longstreet  stated  what  he  believed  to 
be  the  exact  truth,  and  what  was  the  truth  at  the  time 


8o 


Old  Time  Notes 


had  he  conferred  with  General  Lee  on  the  subject,  but 
no  one  who  appreciates  Lee's  consummate  mihtary 
abihty  and  discretion  will  ever  assume  that  he  advised 
the  invasion  of  Pennsylvania  simply  as  a  desirable 
military  movement.  It  had  become  a  military  neces- 
sity; all  questions  of  the  expediency  of  the  movement 
were  silenced  and  Lee  bowed  to  the  inevitable. 

The  one  paramount  reason  for  the  Gettysburg 
campaign  was  the  necessity  for  the  Confederacy  to  gain 
the  recognition  of  England  and  France,  and  the  Gettys- 
burg campaign  was  solely  the  result  of  that  imperious 
necessity.  Lee  had  then  the  largest  Confederate  army 
that  ever  was  formed  in  line  of  battle,  but  he  well  knew, 
as  did  the  Confederate  authorities,  that  the  supply  of 
men  was  almost  entirely  exhausted,  and  that  the  South 
could  not  stand  the  strain  of  a  long-continued  war. 
If  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy  by  France  and 
England  could  have  been  accomplished,  it  would  prac- 
tically have  ended  the  Vv^ar,  as  the  North  would  have 
been  unable  to  maintain  the  conflict  with  such  odds 
against  it.  The  campaign  was  most  carefully  planned, 
and  it  was  expected  that  Lee  should  cross  the  Potomac 
east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  defeat  the  Union  army  in  battle, 
and  thus  open  the  way  for  the  speedy  capture  of  Balti- 
more and  Washington.  Could  that  have  been  achieved 
there  is  little  doubt  that  England  and  France  would 
have  promptly  recognized  the  Confederacy  and  thus 
established  it  permanently  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth. 

But  while  the  question  of  winning  recognition  from 
England  and  France  made  an  aggressive  movement 
necessary  on  the  part  of  the  Confederacy,  there  were 
other  reasons  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Southern 
leaders,  fully  warranted  the  belief  that  the  chances 
were  largely  in  favor  of  the  complete  success  of  such 
a  campaign.    The  officers  and  men  of  Lee's  army 


of  Pennsylvania 


firmly  believed  that  they  could  defeat  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  wherever  they  might  be  brought  face  to  face 
in  battle.  They  greatly  underestimated  the  valor 
and  fighting  qualities  of  the  Northern  troops,  who  had 
been  compelled  to  fight  Lee's  army  in  chosen  positions 
which  often  largely  outweighed  all  of  the  Union  army's 
advantage  in  numbers.  A  considerable  portion  of  Lee 's 
army  during  the  invasion  was  in  and  about  Chambers- 
burg  for  a  week,  and  conversed  freely  with  our  people. 
Some  of  them  doubted  the  expediency  of  an  aggressive 
campaign  in  the  North,  but  all  felt  absolute  confidence 
in  achieving  victory  over  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
whenever  and  wherever  they  should  meet  in  battle. 

In  addition  to  the  confidence  that  the  Southern 
leaders  all  felt  in  the  success  of  Lee's  army  in  any  battle 
with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  there  was,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  most  of  them,  a  strong  incentive  to  a  campaign 
of  invasion  in  what  they  regarded  as  a  divided  senti- 
ment in  the  North  that  would  be  developed  into  revo- 
lutionar}^-  action  by  the  success  of  Lee's  army  in  a 
battle  on  Pennsylvania  or  Maryland  soil.  General 
Lee  himself  refers  rather  vaguely  to  this  condition, 
which  certainly  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  strong  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  movement  in  his  official  report  of 
the  Pennsylvania  campaign.  After  stating  the  military 
reasons  for  the  movement,  he  adds :  "In  addition  to 
these  results,  it  was  hoped  that  other  valuable  results 
might  be  attained  by  military  success. ' ' 

Congress  had  enacted  a  National  conscription  law 
that  was  approved  on  March  3,  1863,  and  a  large  draft 
had  been  ordered  by  the  government.  There  were 
murmurs  of  revolutionary  opposition  to  the  draft  in 
some  sections  of  the  country,  notably  in  New  York 
city,  where  fearful  riots  were  the  result  of  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  conscription  act,  and  in  the  anthracite 
regions  of  Pennsylvania,  where  the  MoUie  Maguires, 

2 — 6 


82 


Old  Time  Notes 


who  had  many  sympathetic  followers,  were  in  open 
rebellion,  and  in  Indiana,  v/liere  powerful  secret  organi- 
zations were  maintained  to  hinder  enforced  military 
service. 

It  was  naturally  believed  by  the  Confederate  gov- 
ernment and  b}^  General  Lee  himself  that  if  he  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on  North- 
ern soil,  and  captured  Baltimore  or  Washington,  not 
only  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy  by  European 
governments  would  follow,  but  that  the  North,  in 
the  face  of  such  a  hopeless  conflict,  would  be  precipi- 
tated into  open  rebellion  against  the  war.  The  National 
conscription  act  was  assailed  before  the  supreme  court 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  issue  of  its  constitutionality 
was  pending  at  the  time  of  Lee's  invasion,  with  the 
general  belief  that  the  decision  of  the  court  would 
be  adverse  to  the  validity  of  the  law.  Strong  reasons 
were  thus  presented  to  both  the  civil  and  military 
authorities  of  the  Confederacy  in  favor  of  the  inva- 
sion of  the  North,  and  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt 
that  had  success  crowned  Lee's  struggle  at  Gettys- 
burg, and  the  capture  of  Washington  or  even  Balti- 
more accomplished,  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy 
by  foreign  governments  would  have  been  prompt  and 
general  and  the  success  of  the  Confederacy  assured. 

Jefferson  Davis  and  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy,  with  their 
trusted  advisers  in  the  administration  of  their  govern- 
ment, had  very  carefully  planned  in  all  details  the  dip- 
lomatic aid  that  was  to  be  given  to  the  Gettysburg 
campaign  in  forcing  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy 
by  European  governments.  None  of  them  seemed  to 
entertain  any  doubts  as  to  the  victory  of  Lee  over  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  wherever  he  might  happen  to 
meet  it  on  Northern  soil,  and  a  very  important  part  of 
the  great  scheme  was  to  have   the  government  at 


Of  Pennsylvania 


83 


Washington  refuse  to  receive  Vice-President  Stephens 
on  a  peace  commission.  It  was  believed  that  with  the 
Union  army  defeated  in  Lee's  campaign  of  invasion, 
and  the  Washington  government  rejecting  peace  pro- 
posals coming  directly  from  the  President  of  the  Con- 
federacy, England  and  France  would  at  once  lead  the 
way  in  recognizing  the  Confederacy.  ^ 

This  is  clearly  established  by  a  letter  addressed  to 
Vice-President  Stephens  by  President  Davis,  dated 
Richmond,  July  2,  1863,  when  the  battle  of  Gettysburg 
was  in  progress,  and  when  the  only  information  from 
the  field  told  of  the  overwhelming  triuraph  of  the  Con- 
federates in  the  first  day's  conflict.  In  this  letter 
President  Davis  prepared  very  careful  instructions  to 
Stephens,  who  was  to  proceed  to  Washington  as  mil- 
itary commissioner  under  a  flag  of  truce.  The  letter 
was  given  to  Stephens  in  duplicate.  One  was  signed 
by  Davis,  as  President  of  the  Confederacy,  but  assum- 
ing that  such  a  letter  would  not  be  received,  because  of 
the  refusal  to  recognize  such  an  officer  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, the  duplicate  letter  was  signed  by  Davis  as  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  military  forces  of  the  Confed- 
eracy. Of  course,  Davis  well  knew  that  President 
Lincoln  would  admit  no  Confederate  commissioner 
with  a  peace  proposal  involving  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  in  order  to  put  the  Washington  gov- 
ernment in  the  position  of  having  even  refused  a 
military  commissioner  to  confer  on  matters  relating 
to  the  conduct  of  the  war,  the  duplicate  letters  were 
written. 

The  Davis  letter  was  written  with  scrupulous  care, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  instructing  Stephens,  who  needed 
no  instructions  on  the  subject  whatever,  but  to  present 
the  strongest  possible  case  against  the  Washington 
government  when  it  refused  to  receive  the  Southern 
commissioner  after  Lee  had  defeated  the  Union  army 


84 


Old  Time  Notes 


on  Northern  soil.  In  point  of  fact,  it  was  a  very 
shrewdly  devised  movement  to  force  the  Union  gov- 
ernment into  the  attitude  of  going  somewhat  beyond 
the  mere  recognition  of  the  belligerent  powers  of  the 
Confederacy  or  refusing  to  hear  peace  proposals.  It 
was  a  paper  most  adroitly  framed  to  inspire  prejudices 
abroad  to  aggressive  action  in  recognizing  the  South- 
ern government,  and  Stephens  proceeded  at  once  on 
his  mission,  hoping  that  by  the  time  he  reached  the 
Union  lines  he  would  learn  of  a  decisive  victory  gained 
by  Lee  over  the  Army  of  the  Potomac;  but  when  he 
reached  Fortress  Monroe,  and  made  his  application  for 
permission  to  proceed  to  Washington  under  a  flag  of 
truce  as  a  military  commissioner  of  the  Confederacy, 
Pickett's  charge  had  been  repulsed  and  Lee  was  retreat- 
ing with  a  defeated  army,  and  the  officers  of  Fortress 
Monroe  were  promptly  instructed  from  Washington 
to  refuse  Stephens  permission  to  visit  the  Capital,  or 
to  enter  the  Union  lines. 

Mr.  Pollard,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Civil  War, who 
was  often  the  severe  critic  of  Davis,  but  always  the 
ardent  supporter  of  the  Confederate  cause,  states  that 
Stephens,  by  verbal  instructions,  was  ''fully  empow- 
ered, in  certain  contingencies,  to  propose  peace;  that 
President  Davis  had  sent  him  on  this  extraordinary 
visit  to  Washington  anticipating  a  great  victory  of 
Lee's  army  in  Pennsylvania,  but  the  real  design  of  the 
commissioner  was  disconcerted  by  the  fatal  day  at 
Gettysburg,  which  occurred  when  Stephens  was  near 
Fortress  Monroe,"  and  that  it  was  ''in  the  insolent 
moments  of  this  Federal  success  that  he  was  sharply 
rebuffed  by  the  Washington  authorities. ' '  Thus  is 
the  evidence  cumulative  from  every  side  that  the 
Gettysburg  campaign  was  dictated  solely  by  the  inex- 
orable necessity  of  gaining  the  recognition  of  foreign 
governments  for  the  Confederacy. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


85 


LX. 


MANEUVERING  FOR  THE  BATTTLE. 


Hooker's  Suggestions  Rejected  by  Lincoln — Hooker's  Strategy  Defeated 
Lee's  Movement  to  Cross  the  Potomac  near  Washington — Meade 
Suddenly  Called  to  Command — Large  Emergency  Force  Called  to  the 
Field — Severe  Discipline  of  Lee's  Army — Jenkins'  Raid  into  Cham- 
bersburg — E well's  Requisition  for  Supplies  Including  Sauerkraut  in 
Midsummer — Lee's  Headquarters  at  Shetter's  Grove. 


FTER  the  defeat  of  Hooker  at  Chancellors ville 


the  opposing  armies  fell  back  to  their  former 


positions,  and  remained  there  until  the  Getty s~ 
btirg  movement  began.  On  the  2d  of  June  Lee's  army 
was  encamped  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Rappahannock, 
near  the  city  of  Fredericksburg,  and  Hooker's  army 
was  on  the  north  bank  of  the  same  river  among  the 
Stafford  Hills  and  nearly  opposite  that  city.  Hooker's 
army  consisted  of  eight  corps,  commanded  by  Rey- 
nolds, Hancock,  Sickles,  Meade,  Sedgwick,  Howard 
and  Slocum,  with  Pleasanton's  cavalry  corps,  and 
Lee's  army  consisted  of  four  corps,  commanded  by 
Longstreet,  Ewell,  and  A.  P.  Hill,  with  Stuart  com- 
manding the  cavalry.  There  has  been  much  dispute 
as  to  the  strength  of  the  two  armies  which  met  at 
Gettysburg,  but  after  a  careful  investigation  of  all  the 
varied  statements  on  the  subject,  I  think  it  safe  to 
assume  that  Lee's  army  numbered  80,000,  and  that 
Meade's  army,  as  stated  by  himself  in  his  testimony 
before  a  committee  of  Congress  on  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  numbered  95,000.  His  precise  language  was  that 
his  "army  numbered  a  little  imder  100,000,  probably 
95,000."  They  were  nearly  or  quite  equal  in  artillery 
and  cavalry,  and  Lee's  army,  flushed  with  repeated 


86 


Old  Time  Notes 


victories,  was  entirely  confident  that  it  could  defeat 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on  any  field  where  they 
might  meet. 

Hooker  was  reinforcing  and  reorganizing  his  army. 
It  had  become  greatly  demoralized  by  Bumside's  fail- 
ures, and  the  open  quarrels  forced  upon  him  by  his 
subordinate  commanders.  Hooker  had  reorganized  the 
commissary  and  quartermaster  departments,  getting 
ample  supplies,  and  the  steady  stream  of  reinforce- 
ments that  came  more  than  filled  the  places  of  many 
thousands  whose  term  of  service  expired.  Although 
he  had  suffered  a  disastrous  defeat  at  Chancellorsville, 
the  army  had  confidence  in  him,  as  he  was  known  to 
be  one  of  the  best  fighters  among  its  officers.  The 
crippled  condition  in  which  his  army  was  left  after  the 
defeat  at  Chancellorsville,  and  by  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  service  of  a  large  number  of  his  troops,  required 
that  he  should  have  time  to  get  his  army  restored  alike 
in  numbers  and  efficiency.  Lee  was  also  largely  rein- 
forcing his  army,  and  when  he  started  in  his  campaign 
of  invasion  he  commanded  the  largest  Confederate 
army  that  ever  appeared  on  a  battlefield. 

For  several  weeks  the  two  opposing  armies  remained 
inactive  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Rappahannock, 
near  Fredericksburg.  Lee  knew  that  it  would  be  some 
time  before  Hooker  could  take  the  field  in  an  aggressive 
movement  against  him,  and  he  had  ample  time  to 
perfect  his  plans  and  complete  his  preparations  for  the 
Gettysburg  campaign  that  had  come  to  be  recognized 
as  an  inexorable  necessity,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  it 
had  to  be  planned  and  executed  in  opposition  to  the 
accepted  military  laws  which  usually  govern  armies 
in  the  field. 

The  Confederacy  could  not  survive  without  the 
recognition  of  foreign  governments,  and  it  was  finally 
accepted  by  the  Southern  leaders,  and  doubtless  in 


Of  Pennsylvania 


87 


accordance  with  the  most  reHable  advices  from  their 
friends  in  England  and  France,  that  the  transfer  of 
the  war  to  Northern  soil,  the  defeat  of  the  Union  army 
and  the  capture  of  Baltimore  and  Washington  would 
at  once  command  the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy 
and  end  the  war. 

While  Hooker  could  make  no  mxovement  against  Lee 
in  Fredericksburg,  he  kept  very  close  watch  upon  Lee's 
movements,  and  as  early  as  the  28th  of  May  he  was 
fully  convinced  that  Lee  had  decided  upon  the  invasion 
of  Maryland  or  Pennsylvania,  and  so  wrote  the  Presi- 
dent. His  information  given  to  the  President  was 
fully  vindicated,  as  on  the  2d  of  Jmie  Lee's  army  com- 
menced its  movement  by  E well's  corps  advancing  to 
Culpeper  Court  House.  This  was  followed  by  Long- 
street's  corps  and  General  Lee  himself  on  the  3d,  and 
by  the  8th  of  June  all  of  Lee's  army,  excepting  Hill's 
corps,  that  remained  at  Fredericksburg  to  watch 
Hooker,  was  concentrated  at  Culpeper  Court  House. 
Hooker  was  very  anxious  to  attack  Lee's  rear  at  Fred- 
ericksburg, and  suggested  it  to  the  President,  who 
promptly  disapproved  of  the  plan  as  he  would  have  to 
attack  the  enemy  in  entrenchments,  and,  to  use  Lin- 
coln's own  language,  ''so  man  for  man  worse  you  at 
that  point,  while  his  main  force  would  in  some  way  be 
getting  an  advantage  of  you  northward."  Hooker's 
next  suggestion  takes  high  rank  in  heroic  purpose,  as 
he  urged  the  President  to  permit  him  to  let  Lee  move 
northward  while  he  would  make  a  forced  march  upon 
Richmond,  to  which  Lincoln  replied:  ''I  think  Lee's 
army  and  not  Richmond  is  ^rour  sure  objective  point." 
At  that  time  Lee's  araiy  was  stretched  out  with  its  rear 
between  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellors ville,  and  the 
head  of  it  at  Martinsburg,  and  Lincoln  made  this  quaint 
but  incisive  suggestion  to  Hooker:  '*  If  the  head  of 
Lee's  army  is  at  Martinsburg  and  the  rear  of  it  on  the 


88 


Old  Time  Notes 


plank  road  between  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellors- 
ville,  the  animal  must  be  very  slim  somewhere;  could 
you  not  break  him?" 

On  the  5th  of  Jtme  Hooker  began  a  movement  to 
keep  in  touch  with  Lee  and  gradually  advanced  his 
different  corps  to  hold  the  interior  line  between  Lee 
and  the  Capital,  and  also  between  Lee  and  the  Poto- 
mac. He  had  a  very  efficient  cavalry  force,  and  kept 
it  constantly  employed  in  reconnoissance  to  ascertain 
the  movements  of  the  enemy.  On  the  8th  of  Jtme 
Hooker  had  his  cavalry  corps  making  a  reconnoissance 
in  force  south  of  the  Rappahannock.  Pleasanton's 
cavalry  crossed  the  river  at  night  and,  protected  by  a 
heavy  fog,  struck  the  main  force  of  Stuart's  cavalry 
corps,  compelled  it  to  retreat,  and  came  into  possession 
of  Stuart's  headquarters,  in  which  Stuart's  important 
papers  were  captured,  including  Lee's  orders  outlining 
his  movement  into  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  A 
heavy  infantry  force  came  to  the  support  of  the  Con- 
federate cavalry,  and  the  purpose  of  the  reconnoissance 
being  fully  accomplished,  Pleasanton  retired,  but  that 
cavalry  conflict,  and  the  information  derived  from 
General  Stuart's  orders  received  from  Lee,  defeated 
one  of  the  most  important  features  of  Lee's  plan. 

Lee's  purpose  was  to  move  along  the  east  base  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  cross  the  Potomac  near  Washington,  where 
he  could  operate  on  an  interior  line.  Hooker's  army 
was  promptly  hastened  forward  and  Lee  was  compelled 
to  make  his  invasion  by  first  entering  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  thus  greatly  lengthening  his  Hne,  and  making 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  his  objective  points,  twice 
or  thrice  the  distance  from  him  after  he  crossed  the 
Potomac  that  they  would  have  been  if  Hooker  had  not 
discovered  his  plans  and  compelled  him  to  change 
them.  If  he  had  crossed  the  Potomac  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Poolsville  and  the  Monocacy  as  was  indi- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


89 


cated  in  his  instructions  to  Stuart,  he  would  have  been 
saved  long  marching  to  the  upper  Potomac  and  back 
again  to  Gettysburg,  and  could  have  delivered  his 
decisive  battle  certainly  ten  days  sooner  with  less 
depletion  of  his  army  because  of  a  shorter  line  from 
its  base. 

On  the  2ist  of  June  Hooker  had  his  army  so  placed 
that  every  approach  to  Washington  south  of  the 
Potomac  was  completely  guarded,  and  Lee  was  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  and  tmable  to  obtain  information 
of  Hooker's  movements.  Hooker's  strategy  in  meeting 
Lee's  movements  was  masterly,  and  when  he  found  that 
Lee  was  certain  to  cross  the  Potomac  he  was  moving 
with  his  army  in  Maryland  extended  on  a  long  line 
north  and  south  to  enable  him  to  concentrate  speedily 
against  Lee  whether  he  moved  by  the  Susquehanna  or 
the  Potomac  line  toward  Washington.  He  urged  that 
Milroy,  who  had  some  8,000  men  at  Winchester,  should 
evacuate  that  place,  retire  from  the  valley  and  join  his 
command.  General  Schenck,  with  headquarters  in 
Baltimore,  in  whose  department  Milroy  was  operating, 
ordered  Milroy  to  retire  from  the  valley,  but  Milroy 
was  a  soldier  with  more  courage  than  discretion,  and 
begged  to  be  permitted  to  remain,  declaring  that  he 
would  defeat  any  force  of  the  enemy  that  could  be 
brought  against  him.  Schenck,  unfortunately,  left 
the  question  to  the  discretion  of  Milroy,  and  the  result 
was  that  Milroy 's  8,000  men  were  defeated,  routed, 
several  thousand  of  them  captured,  along  with  vast 
stores  of  guns  and  supplies,  and  that  entire  force  was 
lost  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

It  became  known  throughout  Pennsylvania  early  in 
June  that  Lee's  movement  was  reasonably  certain  to 
lead  to  the  invasion  of  the  North,  and  the  government 
at  Washington  created  two  new  military  departments 
in  Pennsylvania — that  of  the  Monongahela,  with  head- 


go 


Old  Time  Notes 


quarters  at  Pittsburg,  assigned  to  Major  General  W.  T. 
H.  Brooks,  and  the  Department  of  the  Susquehanna, 
with  headquarters  at  Harrisburg,  assigned  to  Major 
General  D.  N.  Couch.  On  the  12th  of  Jtme  Governor 
Curtin  issued  a  proclamation  to  the  people  of  the  State 
warning  them  of  the  danger  of  invasion  and  calling  for 
volunteers  to  meet  the  emergency,  but  as  the  peril  was 
to  the  National  cause  quite  as  much  as  to  Pennsylvania, 
President  Lincoln  on  the  15  th  called  upon  the  States  of 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Ohio 
and  West  Virginia  to  funish  120,000  of  their  militia  for 
temporary  service.  The  Governors  of  the  States 
seconded  the  call  of  the  President ;  but  there  was  then 
hardly  any  organized  militia  remaining  in  the  States, 
and  the  response  was  25,000  from  Pennsylvania, 
1 5,000  from  New  York,  5,000  from  Maryland,  3,000  from 
New  Jersey,  2,000  from  West  Virginia,  making  a  total 
of  50,000.  Most  of  them  reported  at  Harrisburg,  and 
General  William  F.  Smith,  better  known  as  ''Baldy" 
Smith,  and  General  Dana  were  each  given  a  division 
under  General  Couch.  This  emergency  militia  gave 
no  aid  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  presence  of 
General  Smith's  division  at  Harrisburg  prevented 
General  Rhodes,  who  occupied  Carlisle  and  whose 
pickets  were  at  one  time  within  a  few  miles  of  Harris- 
burg, from  capturing  the  State  Capital.  Beyond  that 
the  militia  rendered  no  service  whatever. 

It  was  not  the  fault  of  the  emergency  troops,  as  they 
did  all  that  was  in  their  power.  They  were  hastily 
thrown  together,  without  discipline,  quartermaster 
or  commissary  organizations,  and  when  marching 
through  the  Cumberland  Valley  lived  upon  the  coimtry 
and  were  vastly  more  destructive  foragers  than  were 
the  Confederates.  Lee's  army  was  imder  strict  dis- 
cipline and  also  under  severe  orders  against  the  need- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


91 


less  destruction  of  private  property.  E well's  corps 
occupied  the  200-acre  field  on  my  farm,  at  the  edge  of 
Chambersburg.  The  middle  fences  had  all  been  de- 
stroyed by  military  visitors,  and  more  or  less  of  his 
corps  remained  there  for  a  week.  His  22,000  men  did 
less  injury  to  private  property  in  a  week's  occupation 
than  did  one  regiment  of  New  York  niilitia  in  a  single 
day  when  it  made  its  camp  in  the  same  field. 

General  Jenkins,  with  a  large  cavalry  force,  led  the 
advance  of  Lee's  invasion,  and  he  crossed  the  Potomac 
at  Williamsport  on  the  evening  of  June  14.  The  peo- 
ple in  the  Cumberland  Valley  had  notice  of  the  ap- 
proach of  the  enemy  by  the  scattered  fragments  of  the 
Milroy  forces  which  covered  all  the  highways  reaching 
north  in  squads  of  ten,  twenty  or  more,  thoroughly 
demoralized,  and  well  calculated  to  terrorize  the  com- 
mimity.  On  the  15  th  of  June  the  people  of  the  border 
commenced  a  general  exodus  northward  with  their  live 
stock,  and  the  wildest  excitement  prevailed.  Mer- 
chants hurried  their  goods  away  to  points  in  the  East, 
banks  shipped  all  their  money  and  families  sent  their 
valuables,  while  all  the  roads  were  crowded  with  fleeing, 
terrorized  people,  driving  their  stock  away  from  the 
enemy.  There  was  no  military  force  whatever  to 
impede  the  advance  of  Jenkins,  and  early  in  the  even- 
ing of  the  1 5  th  it  was  known  in  Chambersburg  that  his 
force  was  rapidly  advancing  upon  the  town.  He 
reached  Chambersburg  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
took  possession  of  the  town  without  a  conflict,  passed 
through  the  main  street  leaving  a  strong  guard  in  the 
town,  and  made  his  camp  on  my  farm,  as  did  all  the 
armies  of  both  sides  in  their  valley  campaigns  during 
the  war.  He  made  his  headquarters  in  my  comfortable 
farmhouse,  and  used  the  large  bam  as  a  hospital,  where 
Mrs.  McClure  provided  the  sick  soldiers  with  all  the 
necessaries,  including  medicines.    I  was  impressively 


92 


Old  Time  Notes 


reminded  of  this  fact  thirty  years  after  the  war,  when, 
on  a  visit  to  Montgomery,  Ala.,  while  a  guest  of  the 
hospitable  Governor  of  the  State.  Notice  was  brought 
to  the  Governor  that  a  man  at  the  door  specially  de- 
sired to  see  me.  The  Governor  did  not  recognize  the 
name,  but  invited  him  to  join  us.  When  he  came  into 
the  room  he  apologized  in  his  awkward  way  for  his 
intrusion,  and  said  that  having  heard  that  I  was  visit- 
ing the  city  he  had  walked  a  number  of  miles  that 
morning  to  meet  me,  and  thank  me  personally  for  the 
kindness  he  received  from  my  family  when,  as  one  of 
Jenkins'  privates,  he  was  on  the  sick  list  and  was  cared 
for  in  my  barn.  It  seems  like  the  irony  of  fate  that 
this  same  command,  under  the  lead  of  McCausland, 
who  became  its  commander  after  Jenkins  fell,  burnt 
the  town  of  Chamber sburg  only  one  year  later,  includ- 
ing the  barn  where  its  sick  had  been  ministered  to,  and 
the  house  where  Jenkins  received  generous  hospitality 
while  he  made  it  his  headquarters. 

Jenkins'  command  did  not  destroy  much  property. 
There  was  little  left  in  the  country  that  was  useful  to 
the  army,  as  stores  were  empty  of  goods,  banks  without 
money,  and  farmers  generally  without  horses  or  cattle. 
His  first  order  required  all  persons  in  the  town  possess- 
ing arms,  whether  guns  or  pistols,  to  bring  them  to  the 
front  of  the  court  house  within  two  hours,  and  the 
penalty  for  disobedience  was  that  all  who  refused 
would  expose  their  houses  to  search,  and  make  them 
lawful  objects  of  plunder.  A  number  of  guns  and 
pistols  were  brought  and  delivered  to  him,  but  few  of 
them  were  considered  of  sufficient  value  to  be  retained 
by  the  soldiers. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  17  th  of  June  Jenkins 
ordered  the  stores  and  shops  to  be  opened  for  two  hours 
to  enable  his  men  to  purchase  such  goods  as  they 
desired,  all  of  which  were  to  be  paid  for,  but,  of  course, 


of  Pennsylvania 


93 


in  Confederate  money.  The  order  was  obeyed  to  the 
extent  of  opening  the  stores  and  shops,  but  as  most  of 
them  were  nearly  or  entirely  empty,  there  was  little 
traffic.  There  were  odds  and  ends  of  valueless  stock 
not  deemed  of  sufficient  value  to  ship  away,  but  the 
Confederate  customers  cleaned  out  the  remnants  and 
paid  liberal  prices  in  Confederate  mpney  that  was 
printed  by  the  army  as  it  moved  along.  Jenkins  then 
withdrew  his  force  and  fell  back  to  Greencastle,  and 
spent  four  days  in  that  rich  portion  of  Franklin  County, 
gathering  in  all  the  property  that  could  be  made  useful 
to  the  army.  On  the  2 2d  Jenkins'  raid  ended,  and  on 
that  day  he  rejoined  the  advance  of  Lee's  infantry 
between  Greencastle  and  Hagerstown,  when  the  inva- 
sion of  Lee's  army  in  force  began. 

About  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  23d,  Jenkins' 
cavalry  returned  to  Chambersburg  as  the  advance  of 
the  infantry  that  was  closely  following  him.  Ewell's 
corps  was  in  the  advance,  and  made  liberal  requisitions 
upon  Greencastle  on  the  23d,  and  on  the  24th  it  entered 
the  town  of  Chambersburg  to  the  music  of  the  Bonnie 
Blue  Flag." 

Many  requisitions  were  made  by  Ewell  upon  the 
citizens  of  Chambersburg,  all  of  which  were  impossible 
of  fulfilment,  as  all  valuables  that  could  be  removed 
had  been  sent  away.  One  of  the  most  amusing 
features  of  his  several  requisitions  was  a  demand  for 
the  immediate  delivery  of  nine  barrels  of  sauerkraut. 
He  knew  that  sauerkraut  was  regarded  as  a  very 
valuable  antiscorbutic,  and  as  some  of  his  troop 
suffered  from  scurvy  because  of  their  unwholesome 
rations,  he  assumed  that  sauerkraut  would  be  an 
invaluable  remedy  for  those  who  were  threatened  with 
that  malady.  He  was  quite  incredulous  at  first,  when 
informed  that  sauerkraut  was  a  commodity  that  could 
not  be  kept  in  midsummer,  and  that  such  a  thing  was 


94 


Old  Time  Notes 


unknown  even  in  the  German  communities  where 
sauerkraut  was  one  of  the  great  staples  of  the  table. 
If  there  had  been  a  barrel  of  sauerkraut  in  Chambers- 
burg  in  midsummer  he  could  have  scented  it  any  place 
within  a  square,  and  he  finally  abandoned  that  feature 
of  the  requisition  when  told  that  it  was  not  an  article 
that  could  be  concealed  in  hot  weather. 

Ewell  paid  me  the  usual  compliment  of  all  command- 
ers of  both  armies  who  visited  Chambersburg,  of  taking 
possession  of  my  large  field  for  his  camp  and  of  a  nearby 
Dunkard  church  for  his  headquarters,  while  subordinate 
officers  occupied  my  house.  During  the  week  or  ten 
days  in  which  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  his  command 
was  there  encamped,  the  most  scrupulous  care  was 
taken  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  any  private  prop- 
erty whatever.  Lee  issued  a  general  order  forbidding 
that  any  private  property  should  be  taken  by  the  army, 
excepting  by  an  authorized  officer,  and  loose  foraging 
was  not  only  forbidden,  but  severely  punished.  It  is 
due  to  General  Lee  and  his  army  to  say  that  the  order 
against  the  wanton  destruction  of  property  was  gener- 
ously obeyed  by  his  infantry. 

An  interesting  incident  occurred  that  showed  how 
Lee  himself  was  inclined  to  temper  the  sorrows  and 
sacrifices  of  war.  Chambersburg  depended  wholly 
upon  the  surrounding  country  for  its  daily  supplies  of 
flour,  vegetables  and  meats,  and  as  all  teams  had  been 
sent  away  and  no  supplies  could  be  brought  in,  it 
required  only  a  very  few  days  to  bring  the  people  of 
the  town  to  a  state  of  starvation.  The  mills  were  all 
in  the  possession  of  the  enemy  and  run  to  their  utmost 
capacity  to  furnish  supplies  for  the  army,  and  Mrs. 
William  McLellan,  whose  husband  was  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  bar  and  my  law  partner, 
decided  to  make  a  personal  visit  to  General  Lee,  who 
had  his  headquarters  in  Shetter's  woods,  only  several 


Of  Pennsylvania 


95 


squares  distant  from  Mrs.  McLellan's  residence.  She 
was  promptly  admitted  to  his  presence  and  appealed 
to  him  to  permit  supplies  to  be  brought  in  to  the  people 
of  the  town  without  being  seized  by  his  army.  Lee 
promptly  arranged  with  her  to  have  sufficient  supplies 
of  flour  furnished  to  the  people,  and  after  his  generous 
order  she  thanked  him  and  asked  him  for  his  autograph, 
to  which  he  replied :  Do  you  want  the  autograph  of  a 
rebel?*'  Mrs.  McLellan  said:  "General  Lee,  I  am  a 
true  Union  woman  and  yet  I  ask  for  bread  and  for  your 
autograph.'*  His  answer  was:  **It  is  to  your  interest 
to  be  for  the  Union  and  I  hope  you  may  be  as  firm  in 
your  purpose  as  I  am  in  mine."  He  gave  her  the 
autograph  and  Mrs.  McLellan  brought  bread  to  her 
starving  neighbors,  and  among  her  most  cherished  relics 
during  her  life  was  her  autograph  of  Robert  E.  Lee. 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXI. 

LEE  DEFEATED  AT  GETTYSBURG. 

General  Lee  and  His  Leading  Lieutenants  in  Chambersburg — Personal 
Description  of  General  Lee — Why  Lee  Moved  to  Gettysburg — Re- 
markable Feats  of  Volunteer  Scouts — Stephen  W.  Pomeroy  Gave 
the  First  Word  of  Lee's  Movement  to  Gettysburg — A  Week  of 
Appalling  Anxiety  at  Harrisburg  and  Throughout  the  State — Lee's 
Retreat  from  Franklin  County — Intense  Passions  That  Denied 
Burial  to  a  Confederate  Soldier. 

ON  MONDAY,  June  29,  1863,  General  Lee,  with 
the  largest  Confederate  army  that  ever  en- 
gaged in  battle,  had  his  entire  command  within 
the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  with  his  headquarters  at 
Chambersburg,  and  General  Meade,  who  had  just  been 
assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
had  his  somewhat  larger  force  on  the  line  north  and 
south  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  with  his  head- 
quarters at  Frederick  City,  ready  to  concentrate 
against  Lee  whether  he  moved  eastward  by  the  line 
of  the  Susquehanna  or  on  the  more  direct  line  to  Balti- 
more and  Washington.  Lee  himself,  with  his  staff, 
entered  Chambersburg  on  the  26th,  accompanied  by 
General  A.  P.  Hill.  When  they  reached  the  center 
square  of  the  town  Lee  and  Hill,  moimted  on  their 
horses,  conferred  alone  for  some  time,  and  they  were 
watched  with  great  interest  by  the  citizens,  who  were 
intensely  anxious  to  ascertain  the  line  upon  which  Lee 
would  advance.  After  the  consultation  it  was  with  a 
measurable  sense  of  relief  that  they  saw  Lee  turn  east- 
ward on  the  Gettysburg  pike.  He  proceeded  to  the 
little  grove  known  then  as  Shetter's  Woods,  just  out- 
side of  the  borough,  where  he  made  his  headquarters, 


of  Pennsylvania 


97 


and  remained  there  until  he  started  to  Gettysburg  on 
the  31st  of  June. 

The  most  careful  and  dispassionate  observer  among 
the  people  of  Chambersburg  of  the  movements  of  Lee's 
army  was  Mr.  Jacob  Hoke,  a  prominent  merchant,  and 
his  "  History  of  the  Great  Invasion  of  1863,"  a  voliime 
of  over  600  pages,  is  the  most  complete  and  accurate  in 
all  details  of  the  Gettysburg  campaign  that  has  ever 
been  presented.  He  witnessed  the  entrance  of  Lee 
and  Hill  into  the  town,  and  thus  describes  Lee  on  page 
167  of  his  admirable  work:  General  Lee,  as  he  sat  on 
his  horse  that  day  in  the  public  square  of  Chambers- 
burg, looked  every  inch  a  soldier.  He  was  at  that  time 
about  fifty-two  years  of  age,  stoutly  built,  medium 
height,  hair  strongly  mixed  with  gray,  and  a  rough  gray 
beard.  He  wore  the  usual  Confederate  gray,  with  some 
little  ornamentation  about  the  collar  of  his  coat.  His 
hat  was  a  soft  black  without  ornamentation  other  than 
a  military  cord  around  the  crown.  His  whole  appear- 
ance indicated  dignity,  composure  and  disregard  for 
the  gaudy  trappings  of  war  and  the  honor  attaching  to 
his  high  station." 

Lee's  army  was  then  located  as  foUov/s:  Of  Swell's 
corps,  Earley's  division  was  at  York,  Rhodes'  division 
at  Carlisle,  Johnson's  around  Shippensburg  and  Jen- 
kins' cavalry  was  at  Mechanicsburg,  less  than  ten  miles 
from  the  State  Capital.  Of  Hill's  corps,  Heth's  division 
was  at  Cashtown,  with  Pender's  and  Anderson's  be- 
tween Fayetteville  and  Greenwood,  both  in  Franklin 
County  and  west  of  the  South  Mountain.  Of  Long- 
street's  corps,  McLaws  and  Hood  were  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Fayetteville,  Pickett's  division  was  near 
Chambersburg  to  cover  the  rear  of  the  advancing  army ; 
Imboden's  cavalry  was  at  Mercersburg  and  Stuart  s 
cavalry  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  Union  Mills,  Mary- 
land, north  of  Westminster.    Lee  was  greatly  em- 

a— 7 


98 


Old  Time  Notes 


barrassed  for  two  days  at  Chambersburg  in  deciding 
upon  what  line  he  should  move,  as  he  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  movements  of  the  Union  army.  Stuart, 
who  should  have  been  between  Lee  and  the  Union 
army,  and  giving  information  to  Lee  of  its  move- 
ments, was  driven  from  his  course  by  the  Union  cavalry 
in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  and  it  was  not  until 
Simday  night,  June  28,  that  a  scout  reached  Lee's 
headquarters  and  gave  him  the  first  information  that 
the  Union  army  had  crossed  the  Potomac  and  was 
concentrated,  with  Frederick  as  its  center,  ready  to 
unite  against  Lee  whether  he  should  march  by  the  Sus- 
quehanna or  the  line  of  the  Potomac. 

This  information  quickly  decided  Lee  to  move  to 
Gettysburg,  and  orders  were  sent  by  swift  messengers, 
as  all  telegraphic  communication  was  interrupted,  to 
Earley  and  Rhodes  and  all  the  other  outposts  to  con- 
centrate as  speedily  as  possible  at  Gettysburg.  The 
celerity  with  which  Hooker  had  moved  his  army  across 
the  Potomac  on  a  line  that  always  gave  the  fullest 
protection  to  the  Capital,  and  compelled  Lee  to  cross 
the  Potomac  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  decided  Gettys- 
burg as  the  great  battlefield  of  the  war.  Had  Lee 
crossed  the  Potomac  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  as  he 
originally  intended,  or  had  he  been  advised  of  Hooker's 
crossing  the  Potomac  two  days  earlier,  his  army  would 
have  been  far  east  of  Gettysburg  by  the  time  that  the 
battle  was  fought,  and  he  would  have  escaped  the 
fatal  necessity  of  fighting  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
in  probably  the  strongest  natural  position  it  could  have 
found  between  Williamsport  and  Washington.  The 
only  opposition  that  Lee's  advance  met  with  in  the 
Cumberland  Valley  was  an  occasional  feeble  skirmish 
with  the  undisciplined  militia  commanded  by  General 
Knipe,  of  Harrisburg,  who,  being  unable  to  give  battle 
to  the  overwhelming  ntmibers  of  the  enemy  that  always 


Of  Pennsylvania 


99 


confronted  him,  discreetly  retired  down  the  valley  until 
he  landed  in  Harrisburg. 

Such  was  the  attitude  of  the  two  opposing  armies 
immediatel)"  before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  began. 
The  entire  Cumberland  Valley  was  isolated  from  Har- 
risburg, as  all  communication  by  railway  or  telegraph 
was  broken  up,  and  every  highway  in  the  valley  was 
covered  by  Lee's  troops.  My  experience  in  enter- 
taining the  Confederate  officers  in  1862,  who  had  orders 
to  take  me  as  a  prisoner  to  Richmond,  but  who  waived 
their  knowledge  of  my  personality  because  of  the 
hospitality  they  requested  and  received,  taught  me  that 
it  would  not  be  discreet  for  me  to  remain  at  home  to 
entertain  our  Southern  guests.  I  went  to  Harrisburg 
on  the  last  train  that  passed  through  the  Cumberland 
Valley  before  the  battle,  and  remained  there  until  Lee's 
retreat  from  the  great  struggle  that  inexorably  pro- 
noimced  the  doom  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  more  active  men  of  Chambersburg  well  knew 
how  important  it  was  for  information  to  reach  Harris- 
burg of  the  movements  of  Lee 's  army,  and  scouts  were 
sent  out  every  day  and  night  when  any  movement  of 
importance  was  made.  It  is  marvelous  how  quickly 
the  young  men  of  the  town  and  neighborhood  developed 
into  the  most  daring  and  skillful  scouts.  The  most 
prominent  of  them  were  Shearer  Houser,  Benjamin  S. 
Huber,  J.  Porter  Brown,  Anthony  Hollar,  Sellers  Mont- 
gomery, T.  J.  Grimeson,  Stephen  W.  Fomeroy  and  Mr. 
Kinney.  The  only  way  that  they  could  reach  Harris- 
burg was  by  getting  out  on  the  northwest  toward  Stras- 
burg,  and  iDy  climbing  several  spurs  of  the  moimtains 
into  Tuscarora  or  Sherman's  Valley,  and  reach  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  at  Newport,  in  Perry  County, 
or  Port  Royal,  in  Juniata  County.  When  the  concen- 
tration toward  Gettysburg  began  scouts  were  sent  out 
generally  Vfith  information  written  out  by  Judge 


100 


Old  Time  Notes 


Kimmell  on  tissue  paper  either  sewed  in  their  garments 
or  carred  in  a  pocket  where  they  could  be  promptly 
fingered  into  a  little  ball  and  swallowed  in  case  of 
capture. 

The  movement  of  the  infantry  toward  Gettysburg 
was  sent  out  at  once,  but  was  not  regarded  as  decisive 
of  Lee  crossing  the  moimtain  to  Gettysburg  until  on 
the  night  of  the  29th,  when  the  wagon  train  of  the  army 
was  hurried  through  Chambersburg  on  the  way  to 
Gettysburg.  It  was  then  accepted  as  conclusive  that 
the  battle  center  of  the  campaign  was  to  be  transferred 
from  the  Cumberland  Valley  to  the  line  between  the 
South  Mountain  and  the  Potomac,  and  it  was  con- 
sidered of  the  utmost  importance  to  have  the  infor- 
mation sent  speedily  to  Harrisburg,  as  the  only  way 
to  reach  the  Union  commander.  Among  the  young 
men  who  happened  to  be  in  the  town  was  Stephen  W. 
Pomeroy,  of  Strasburg,  whose  father  had  been  an 
associate  judge  with  Kimmell  on  the  bench,  and  Kim- 
mell knew  that  he  would  be  one  of  the  safest  who  could 
be  trusted  with  such  a  mission.  Kimmell  prepared  a 
despatch  without  date  or  signature,  briefly  telling  of 
Lee's  movements,  and  the  certainty  of  his  concentra- 
tion on  the  Potomac  line.  This  despatch  was  carefully 
sewed  inside  the  lining  of  the  buckle -strap  of  Pomeroy 's 
pants,  and  he  was  hurried  off  on  his  important  mission. 
He  went  on  foot  to  his  father's  home  in  Strasburg, 
where  he  managed  to  find  a  horse,  and  hurried  across 
the  moimtain  spurs  into  Path  Valley  and  to  Concord  at 
the  head  of  the  valley  where  the  motmtain  gap  opens 
into  Tuscarora  Valley.  He  secured  a  fresh  horse  there, 
and  rode  rapidly  down  the  Tuscarora  Valley,  exchanged 
horses  again  with  an  acquaintance  near  Bealtown,  and 
he  reached  Port  Royal  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
between  two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  hav- 
ing walked  nearly  twenty  miles  at  a  rapid  gait  and  ridden 


Of  Pennsylvania 


lOT 


over  forty  miles.  He  walked  up  to  the  telegraph  oper- 
ator and  delivered  his  despatch,  but  he  was  in  such 
an  exhausted  condition  that  he  did  not  think  of  the 
necessity  of  signing  it,  or  indicating  in  some  way  from 
whom  it  came. 

I  was  one  of  the  most  anxious  party  in  the  Gover- 
nor's room  at  Harrisburg  waiting  for  some  information 
of  the  movement  of  Lee's  army,  and  not  Icnowing  at 
what  hour  Lee  would  swoop  upon  Harrisburg  and  hoist 
the  Confederate  flag  over  the  Capitol.  For  three  days 
we  had  no  information,  excepting  that  furnished  by 
scouts,  and  while  it  was  at  times  important,  all  of  the 
reports  received  up  to  that  time  gave  no  information 
as  to  Lee's  purpose  to  deliver  battle  in  the  Cumberland 
Valley  or  south  of  the  South  Moimtain.  There  had 
been  no  sleep,  except  broken  naps  forced  by  exhaus- 
tion, and  not  one  of  the  Governor's  circle  had  been  in 
bed  for  three  nights.  The  whole  State  was  simply 
paralyzed  by  the  appalling  situation,  and  one  of  the 
aggravating  features  of  it  was  that  no  information 
could  be  obtained  of  Lee's  movements  or  pur- 
poses. Colonel  Scott  was  present,  but  rarely  left 
the  little  room  in  which  was  the  telegraph  battery. 
About  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  ist  of  July, 
Scott  brought  into  the  Executive  chamber  an  tmsigned 
despatch  dated  at  Port  Royal,  telling  that  Lee's  entire 
army  was  marching  toward  Gettysburg,  and  that  the 
wagon  trains  rapidly  followed,  to  which  the  operator  had 
added  that  the  messenger  had  left  Chambersburg  the 
day  before  and  reached  Port  Royal  through  Path  and 
Tuscarora  Valleys,  but  no  information  was  given  as  to 
his  identity. 

The  operator  at  Port  Royal  closed  his  office  immedi- 
ately upon  sending  the  despatch,  and  all  efforts  to  get 
him  for  further  explanation  failed.  General  Couch, 
who  was  present,  finding  that  in  no  way  could  the 


I02 


Old  Time  Notes 


account  be  verified  by  reaching  the  messenger,  at  once 
crossed  the  river  and  advanced  a  strong  picket  force 
toward  CarHsle,  and  early  in  the  forenoon  he  discovered 
that  Rhodes  had  withdrawn  from  CarHsle,  and  moved 
directly  toward  Gettysburg,  and  he  at  once  advanced 
his  force  up  the  valley  that  was  then  entirely  free  from 
the  enemy  and  re-established  telegraph  and  railroad 
communication.  As  soon  as  the  unsigned  despatch  was 
received,  it  was  repeated  to  Washington,  and  General 
Meade  received  it  probably  within  less  than  an  hour 
after  it  reached  Harrisburg.  It  was  the  information 
given  by  this  despatch  that  prompted  General  Meade  to 
order  Reynolds  to  make  his  reconoissance  in  force  to 
Gettysburg,  resulting  in  the  first  day's  battle  disastrous 
to  the  Union  army,  and  the  death  of  Reynolds. 

Events  of  overwhelming  moment  multiplied  so 
rapidly  upon  the  worn-out  men  at  Harrisburg  that  the 
question  of  the  author  of  the  despatch  giving  the  im- 
portant information  was  forgotten,  and  it  was  not  until 
twenty  years  later  that  Governor  Curtin,  or  any  of 
those  about  him  at  the  time,  discovered  who  the  mes- 
senger was.  The  Presb3rterian  synod  was  meeting  in 
Belief onte,  and  Governor  Curtin  was  entertaining 
several  of  the  ministers.  At  the  breakfast  table  one 
morning  the  Governor  mentioned  the  remarkable 
oircimistance  of  the  important  information  received 
about  Lee's  movement  to  Gettysburg,  and  that  he  had 
never  been  able  to  learn  who  the  scout  was  who  brought 
the  message.  One  of  his  guests,  Rev.  Stephen  W. 
Pomeroy,  a  member  of  the  synod,  then  told  them  for 
the  first  time  that  he  was  the  scout,  and  at  Curtin 's 
request  wrote  out  for  him  a  detailed  account  of  his 
journey. 

News  from  the  battlefield  was  awaited  with  the  wild- 
est interest,  but  none  came  until  the  morning  of  the 
second  day,  when  the  information  of  the  death  of  Rey- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


nolds  and  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  two  corps 
engaged,  with  the  capture  of  some  4,000  prisoners, 
reached  the  North  through  Baltimore,  and  the  first 
authentic  account  of  the  battle  was  brought  by  Major 
Rosengarten  and  Captain  Riddle,  of  Reynolds'  staff, 
who  brought  the  body  of  their  fallen  chieftain  to  sleep 
with  his  kindred.  During  all  of  the  second  of  July 
many  bloody  conflicts  occurred  on  the  Gettysburg 
field,  and  there  was  continued  uncertainty  and  fearful 
apprehension  as  to  the  final  issue  of  the  conflict.  Gen- 
eral Meade  had  communication  with  Washington  so 
that  any  important  event  could  be  ascertained.  The 
most  hopeful  view  that  could  be  taken  of  the  reports 
of  the  second  day's  conflict  was  that  it  was  without 
special  advantage  to  either  side,  and  all  of  the  night 
of  the  second,  and  the  morning  and  day  of  the  third 
passed  with  the  most  painful  uncertainty  prevailing  at 
Harrisburg.  Wayne  MacVeagh  was  among  the  men 
who  gave  anxious  days  and  sleepless  nights  to  the 
occasion,  and  he  spent  most  of  his  time  close  to  the  tick 
of  the  telegraph.  About  five  or  six  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon he  rushed  into  the  Governor's  chamber,  and  with 
a  wildly  tremulous  voice  read  out  Meade's  despatch 
announcing  the  repulse  of  Pickett's  charge.  All  knew 
that  such  a  charge  was  the  last  desperate  effort  of  Lee 
to  win  at  Gettysburg,  and  that  his  defeat  was  almost 
absolutely  assured.  It  was  the  first  moment  of  relief 
or  anything  approaching  repose  the  worn-out  men  at 
the  Capitol  had  been  able  to  welcome  for  fully  a  week. 
Some  immediately  sought  their  beds  for  rest,  while 
within  half  an  hour  there  were  many  sleepers  in  the 
chairs  and  on  the  sofas  of  the  Capitol  rooms.  Curtin, 
because  of  his  feeble  condition,  was  forced  home  to 
take  his  bed  and  remain  there  several  days  with  the 
assurance  that  he  would  be  notified  of  any  new  peril 
that  arose. 


I04  Old  Time  Notes 

The  following  morning,  the  natal  day  of  the  Repub- 
lic, the  sun  arose  to  spread  its  refulgence  over  a  cloud- 
less sky,  and  the  first  news  received  from  the  battle- 
field was  that  Lee's  trains  were  retreating  toward  the 
Potomac,  and  later  came  the  message  from  Grant  telling 
of  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg.  The  people  of  Pennsyl- 
vania not  only  felt  that  they  had  been  rescued  from 
invasion  and  the  desolation  of  war  upon  their  own  soil, 
but  they  knew  that  the  military  power  of  the  Confed- 
eracy was  broken,  and  the  dark  cloud  of  uncertainty 
verging  on  despair,  that  hung  over  the  great  State  for 
nearly  a  fortnight,  speedily  gave  way  to  the  strength- 
ened conviction  and  delightful  hope  that  the  Union 
could  be  restored  by  the  valor  of  our  arms. 

The  sudden  change  made  by  the  report  of  Lee's  defeat 
and  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  was  visible  on  every  face, 
old  and  young.  The  terrible  strain  was  ended,  the 
invasion  was  repulsed,  and  the  many  thousands  of 
people  in  the  Cumberland  Valley,  scattered  all  through 
the  interior  and  eastern  part  of  the  State,  with  their 
stock  and  other  valuables,  began  a  general  movement 
homeward.  Many  of  the  farmers  had  left  their  golden 
wheat  fields  ready  for  the  reaper,  but  fortimately  the 
Confederates  expected  to  occupy  the  valley  and  harvest 
it,  and  no  destruction  of  the  grain  fields  was  permitted. 
Most  of  the  crops  were  thus  saved,  and  in  a  few  weeks 
industrial  operations  in  the  shops  and  valleys  were 
very  generally  resumed.  General  Couch  moved  his 
forces  forward  through  the  Cumberland  Valley  and 
rapidly  repaired  the  railway  and  telegraph  lines,  and 
by  the  loth  of  July  he  established  his  headquarters  at 
Chambersburg.  A  large  portion  of  Milroy's  command 
had  scattered  off  through  the  mountains  in  squads  of 
half  a  dozen  or  more,  and  in  the  general  demoralization 
foraged  upon  the  country  recklessly  and  often  destruc- 
tively.   It  required  nearly  two  v/eeks  to  get  them  re- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


united.  They  were  scattered  along  the  Juniata  Valley 
and  in  the  mountains  as  far  west  as  Altoona.  Most  of 
the  people  as  they  returned  to  their  homes  were  amazed 
to  find  their  property  in  comparatively  well-preserved 
condition,  as  Lee's  orders  against  the  wanton  destruc- 
tion of  property  were  scrupulously  enforced  by  the 
infantry. 

The  last  echo  of  Lee 's  army  in  the  Cumberland  Valley 
came  from  his  immense  train  nearly  twenty  miles  long, 
that  left  Lee  at  Gettysburg  on  the  4th  and  led  the 
advance  of  the  retreat.  To  escape  the  dashes  of  the 
Union  cavalry,  this  immense  train  recrossed  the  South 
Mountain  and  turned  southward  at  Greenwood  to  the 
Potomac  along  the  unfrequented  road  on  the  mountain 
base,  and  where  only  the  two  small  villages  of  New 
Guilford  and  New  Franklin  witnessed  it.  The  wa,gons 
of  this  train  were  largely  filled  with  the  severely 
wounded,  and  accompanying  it  were  all  the  wounded 
who  were  able  to  travel  on  foot.  This  train  was  thirty- 
four  hours  in  passing  a  given  point,  and  General  Imbo- 
den,  who  had  charge  of  it,  and  whose  cavalry  command 
protected  it,  stated  in  an  article  contributed  to  the 
Annals  of  the  War  that  v/hen  compactly  in  line  the 
train  was  seventeen  miles  in  length.  The  number  of 
wounded  in  the  wagons  and  walking  was  not  less  than 
10,000  or  12,000,  and  many  of  those  who  attempted  to 
walk  with  the  train  fell  by  the  wayside.  These  were 
gathered  up  and  brought  to  Chambersburg,  where  a 
Confederate  hospital  was  improvised,  but  the  intense 
passions  inspired  by  civil  war  made  the  people  of  even 
so  intelligent  and  Christianlike  a  community  as  those 
of  Chambersburg  at  first  withhold  kind  ministrations 
to  the  wounded  of  the  enemy.  Dr.  Senseny,  my  own 
family  physician,  was  in  charge  of  this  hospital,  and  in 
the  multiplicity  of  cares  that  crowded  upon  my  return 
to  Chambersburg  I  had  given  no  attention  to  it. 


io6 


Old  Time  Notes 


After  these  wounded  Confederates  had  been  in  Cham- 
bersburg  for  a  week  Dr.  Senseny  called  upon  me,  and 
made  a  personal  appeal  to  inaugurate  a  movement  to 
give  much-needed  relief  to  many  of  the  suffering.  It 
would  not  have  been  discreet  for  any  other  than  a  pro- 
nounced loyal  citizen  to  take  the  first  step  toward 
relief  for  these  sufferers,  but  my  attitude  was  not  one 
that  could  be  questioned,  and  Mrs.  McClure  at  once 
went  with  the  doctor  and  visited  all  of  the  sufferers 
personally.  That  movement  made  an  open  door  for 
all,  and  thereafter  they  had  even  more  generous 
ministration  than  most  of  them  could  have  obtained  at 
home.  A  message  was  brought  to  me  by  Dr.  Senseny 
from  Colonel  Carter,  I  believe  a  native  of  Tennessee,  but 
then  a  resident  of  Texas,  who  had  no  hope  of  recovery, 
and  had  appealed  to  the  doctor  to  bring  him  some  one 
who  would  give  him  the  assurance  of  Christian  burial. 
I  called  at  once  and  found  the  sufferer,  an  imusually 
bright  and  handsome  man,  calmly  watching  the  rapid 
approach  of  death.  With  beseeching  eyes  that  would 
have  melted  the  sternest  enemy,  he  begged  of  me  to 
give  him  the  assurance  that  his  body  would  receive 
Christian  burial,  and  when  he  was  told  that  I  would 
personally  execute  his  request,  he  reached  out  his 
trembling  hand  and  gave  most  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment. A  few  days  thereafter  he  died,  and  I  at  once 
applied  to  the  authorities  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
of  whose  congregation  I  was  a  member,  for  permission 
to  bury  him  in  the  cemetery,  but  it  was  promptly 
refused.  A  new  cemetery  company  had  been  organ- 
ized a  short  time  before,  of  which  I  was  an  officer,  and  I 
applied  to  that  company  to  sell  me  a  lot  for  the  burial  of 
the  Confederate  soldier,  but  that  was  refused.  I  then 
announced  that  I  would  set  apart  a  lot  on  the  comer  of 
my  farm  on  the  public  highway,  and  dedicate  it  by  deed 
as  the  resting  place  of  Colonel  Carter.    The  incident 


Of  Pennsylvania 


107 


caused  very  general  discussion,  and  finally  several 
prominent  members  of  the  Methodist  church  decided 
that  it  was  un-Christian  to  refuse  burial  to  a  fallen  foe, 
and  they  permitted  his  body  to  be  interred  in  their 
cemetery.  Such  were  the  appalling  estrangements 
caused  by  civil  war  that  a  community  noted  for  its 
intelligence  and  Christian  character  hesitated  to  give 
even  decent  sepulture  to  one  who  had  fallen  in  the 
battle  as  conscientious  in  his  convictions  as  were  the 
brave  boys  who  vanquished  him  in  the  conflict. 


io8 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXII. 

PENNSYLVANIA'S  LUSTROUS  RECORD. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  Proclaimed  in  Pennsylvania — Wash- 
ington Assigned  to  the  Command  of  the  Army — 'The  Constitution 
Framed  in  Carpenters'  Hall  with  Washington  Presiding — Gettj^sburg, 
the  Decisive  Battle  of  the  War,  Fought  in  the  State — General  Meade 
of  Pennsylvania  the  Victor — Reynolds  Killed  and  Hancock  Seriously 
Wounded — Gregg,  Another  Pennsylvanian,  Fought  and  Won  the 
Great  Cavalry  Battle  of  the  War — How  Gettysburg  Was  Made  the 
Battle  Ground — Why  Meade  Did  Not  Pursue  Lee — Lincoln  Was 
Disappointed. 

PENNSYLVANIA  furnished  the  most  lustrous 
chapters  in  the  annals  of  the  achievements  of 
the  Republic,  not  only  in  creating  free  govern- 
ment for  the  -united  colonies,  but  also  in  preserving  it 
when  it  was  assailed  with  monstrous  power  and  deadly 
purpose.  It  was  in  Pennsylvania  that  Jefferson  wrote 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  it  was  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall  that  Jefferson's  immortal  declaration 
was  unanimously  adopted  and  proclaimed  to  the  col- 
onies and  to  the  world  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1776.  It 
was  in  Pennsylvania  that  Washington  was  called  to 
the  command  of  the  army,  and  it  was  in  Pennsylvania 
that  the  Constitution,  framed  by  a  convention  that 
sat  in  Carpenters'  Hall,  with  Washington  presiding, 
framed  what  was  generally  accepted  as  the  grandest 
fundamental  law  ever  prepared  by  any  country  of  the 
world.  It  was  in  Pennsylvania  that  sad  records  of 
Washington's  winter  in  Valley  Forge  were  written, 
when  even  the  stoutest-hearted  of  the  patriot  leaders 
were  trembling  on  the  verge  of  despair,  and  it  was  in 
Pennsylvania  that  Washington  started  to  cross  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


ice-bound  Delaware  to  turn  the  tide  of  battle  on  New 
Jersey  plains  and  give  renewed  hope  to  the  cause  of 
independence. 

Just  three-quarters  of  a  century  after  the  inaugura- 
tion of  constitutional  government  the  decisive  battle 
that  halted  the  dismemberment  of  the  Republic  was 
fought  on  the  hills  and  plains  of  Gettysburg.  It  was 
the  final  arbitrament  of  the  sword  proclaiming  the  inex- 
orable judgment  that  ''government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people  and  for  the  people  shall  not  perish  from 
the  earth. ' ' 

The  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  not  only  fotight  on 
Pennsylvania  soil,  but  in  no  other  important  battle  of 
the  war  was  Pennsylvania  heroism  so  generally  and  so 
conspicuously  displayed.  General  Meade,  a  Pennsyl- 
vanian,  was  suddenly  thrust  into  the  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  only  three  days  before  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg  began,  and  he  was  the  chieftain  who  won 
the  greatest  of  all  the  Union  victories  in  the  fratricidal 
strife.  Reynolds,  another  Pennsylvania  soldier,  was 
charged  by  Meade  with  the  responsible  duty  of  making 
the  reconnoissance  in  force  that  precipitated  the 
battle  on  the  imdulating  plains  between  Gettysburg 
and  Cashtown,  where  the  heroic  Reynolds  fell  early  in 
the  action  when  his  single  corps  was  driving  the  enemy. 
Hancock,  another  Pennsylvania  general,  was  hurried 
to  Gettysburg  by  Meade  after  the  report  of  the  defeat 
and  death  of  Reynolds,  and  authorized  to  decide 
whether  the  discomfited  corps  at  Gettysburg  should 
fall  back  upon  Meade's  line  or  whether  Meade  should 
advance  the  entire  army.  It  was  Hancock's  command 
that  received  and  repulsed  Pickett's  charge  with  the 
Philadelphia  brigade  in  the  Bloody  Angle.  Hancock 
lay  on  the  field  severely  wounded  until  he  was  able 
to  send  the  cheering  report  to  his  chief  that  the  final 
charge  of  the  enemy  not  only  resulted  in  failure,  but 


no 


Old  Time  Notes 


in  the  almost  annihilation  of  the  charging  columns. 
Sykes,  another  Pennsylvania  soldier,  commanded  his 
corps  and  performed  heroic  service  in  the  many  con- 
flicts of  that  memorable  field.  Birney,  another  Penn- 
sylvania soldier,  commanded  Sickles'  corps  after  Sickles 
had  fallen  in  the  bloody  conflict  in  the  Peach  Orchard, 
and  the  last  clash  of  arms  at  Gettysburg  was  made  by 
part  of  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves,  led  by  the  heroic 
McCandless,  who  closely  followed  Pickett's  retreat, 
and  who  recovered  the  position  the  enemy  had  won 
from  Sickles  the  day  before,  with  many  prisoners  and 
5,000  stand  of  arms. 

Armistead,  the  only  officer  of  Pickett's  command 
who  successfully  crossed  the  stone  wall  into  the  Union 
lines  with  a  number  of  his  followers,  was  struck  by  the 
Sixty-ninth  Pennsylvania  that  forced  them  to  accept 
surrender  or  death,  and  it  was  there  that  Armistead, 
the  hero  of  the  gray,  and  Gushing,  the  hero  of  the  blue, 
made  the  high- water  mark  of  American  heroism  for 
the  entire  Civil  War.  Thus,  four  Pennsylvania  sol- 
diers— Reynolds,  Hancock,  Sykes  and  Birney — com- 
manded corps  in  the  great  decisive  battle  of  the  war, 
and  to  these  must  be  added  the  gallant  Gregg,  the 
Pennsylvania  trooper,  who  met  the  attack  of  Stuart's 
whole  cavalry  force  as  more  than  10,000  cavalrymen 
made  the  hills  tremble  in  the  shock  of  battle,  and  won 
a  victory  quite  as  important  to  the  Union  cause  as 
was  the  repulse  of  Pickett's  charge.  No  half-dozen 
other  States  of  the  Union  furnished  such  a  galaxy  of 
chieftains  as  did  our  grand  old  commonwealth  in  the 
desperate  and  bloody  conflict  that  decreed  the  contin- 
ued life  of  the  greatest  republic  of  the  world's  history. 

George  G.  Meade  was  suddenly  and  entirely  unex- 
pectedly called  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  just  on  the  eve  of  battle,  and  every  move- 
ment of  his  army  from  that  hour  until  Lee  recrossed  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


III 


Potomac  into  Virginia  was  directed  by  him.  He 
fought  what  is  now  accepted  in  history  as  the  decisive 
battle  of  the  RebelHon,  and  had  he  achieved  such  a 
victory  for  any  other  country  in  the  world  the  highest 
honors  and  ample  fortune  would  have  been  cheerfully 
awarded  him.  Had  he  won  such  a  victory  for  England, 
he  would  have  been  a  peer  of  the  realm  with  abimdant 
wealth  to  maintain  his  title,  but  the  only  immediate 
recognition  he  received  was  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
brigadier  general  in  the  regular  army.  Later  he  was 
promoted  to  the  position  of  major  general,  when  Grant 
was  commander-in-chief,  and  it  was  Grant's  suggestion 
that  his  commission  as  major  general  of  the  regular 
army  should  date  from  the  battle  of  Gettysburg. 

I  have  already  referred  in  detail  to  the  masterly 
strategic  movements  of  Hooker  after  Lee  commenced 
his  march  northward,  by  which  he  not  only  held  the 
interior  line  between  Washington  and  the  Potomac, 
thus  fully  protecting  the  Capital,  but  forced  Lee  to 
cross  the  Potomac  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge  instead  of 
only  a  short  distance  above  Washington.  Hooker  was 
never  in  favor  with  Halleck,  who  was  then  commander- 
in-chief  with  headquarters  at  Washington,  and  when 
Hooker  was  about  to  cross  the  Potomac  to  give  battle 
to  Lee,  he  asked  that  General  French,  who  then  occu- 
pied Maryland  Heights  with  10,000  or  11,000  men,  be 
ordered  to  abandon  the  Maryland  Heights  and  fall 
back  to  join  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  General 
Halleck  refused  to  order  the  evacuation  of  Harper's 
Ferry.  Hooker  then,  on  June  27,  sent  a  despatch  to 
General  Halleck,  of  which  the  following  is  the  full 
text:  "My  original  instructions  required  me  to  cover 
Harper's  Ferry  and  Washington.  I  have  now  imposed 
upon  me  in  addition  an  enemy  in  my  front  of  more 
than  my  numbers.  I  beg  to  be  understood  respect- 
fully but  firmly  that  I  am  unable  to  comply  with  this 


1I2 


Old  Time  Notes 


condition  with  the  means  at  my  disposal,  and  earnestly 
request  that  I  may  at  once  be  relieved  from  the  position 
I  occupy. '  * 

Hooker's  request  to  be  relieved  of  the  command  of 
the  army  was  promptly  acceded  to,  and  on  Sunday, 
June  28,  Colonel  Hardie,  of  the  War  Department, 
reached  Frederick  with  the  official  order  relieving 
Hooker  and  placing  Meade  in  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  Meade  had  on  several  previous  occa- 
sions peremptorily  refused  to  permit  himself  to  be  con- 
sidered for  the  command  of  that  army,  but  he  was  a 
true  soldier,  and  with  imconcealed  regret  at  the  neces- 
sity that  compelled  his  advancement,  he  accepted  the 
gravest  responsibility  assigned  to  any  Union  officer 
from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  war.  No  braver 
and  no  more  conscientious  soldier  than  General  Meade 
ever  wore  his  country's  blue. 

I  first  met  Meade  at  the  camp  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Reserves  on  the  day  he  first  wore  his  brigadier 's  star 
and  came  to  take  command  of  a  Reserve  brigade.  He 
was  an  unusually  modest  man  under  all  ordinary  con- 
ditions, but  he  was  the  fiend  of  battle  and  regarded  by 
all  as  the  fiercest  fighter  of  all  the  corps  commanders. 
He  was  not  at  all  elated  by  his  promotion  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  army,  nor  did  he  permit  himself  to  be 
depressed  by  the  terrible  responsibility  that  had  been 
thrust  upon  him.  He  felt  that  the  safety  of  the  Cap- 
ital, and  indeed  the  safety  of  the  Republic,  were  com- 
mitted to  his  keeping,  and  soldier-like  he  did  not  shrink 
from  the  appalling  duty  that  had  been  assigned  to  him. 
He  was  compelled  to  take  command  of  a  widely-scat- 
tered army,  wisely  placed  to  be  able  to  concentrate 
against  Lee  either  on  the  Susquehanna  or  the  Poto- 
mac line,  nor  did  he  even  know  where  the  different 
corps  of  his  army  were  posted.  He  knew  that  he  must 
meet  Lee  in  battle,  and  he  never  thought  of  fighting 


of  Pennsylvania 


113 


any  other  than  a  defensive  battle,  as  Lee  would  be 
compelled  to  attack  him  in  his  advance  on  Philadelphia 
or  Baltimore. 

Assuming  that  Lee  was  likely  to  cross  the  South 
Mountain  and  follow  the  line  of  the  Potomac  to  keep 
in  closer  touch  with  his  base  of  supplies,  Meade  ordered 
General  Humphrey  to  choose  a  position  for  defensive 
battle  in  the  vicinity  of  Emmittsburg,  resulting  in  the 
selection  of  the  general  line  of  Pipe  Creek,  where  Meade 
expected  to  accept  battle  if  Lee  should  move  toward 
Gettysburg.  So  careful  was  he  to  prevent  confusion 
in  the  movements  of  his  army  that  he  issued  an  order 
to  the  several  corps  commanders  informing  them  of 
the  line  chosen  for  defense,  and  defining  the  position 
each  corps  should  assume  if  ordered  to  that  position. 
Gettysburg  was  chosen  by  neither  commander;  it 
was  controlled  by  inexorable  events.  When  informed 
of  Lee's  positive  movement  toward  Gettysburg  by  the 
dispatch  sent  by  Governor  Curtin  about  three  or  four 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  ist,  he  immediately 
ordered  Reynolds  to  take  his  own  and  the  Eleventh 
corps  and  make  a  reconnoissance  in  force,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  Reynolds  and  the  disastrous  battle  of  the 
first  day.  As  soon  as  advised  of  the  result  of  the  first 
day's  battle,  Meade  ordered  Hancock  to  the  front  to 
take  command  of  all  the  forces  there,  and  to  advise 
whether  the  army  should  be  concentrated  at  Gettys- 
burg or  fall  back  to  Pipe  Creek.  In  the  meantime 
all  the  different  corps  had  been  ordered  to  make  forced 
marches  toward  Emmittsburg. 

Hancock  arrived  on  Cemetery  Hill  during  the  night 
after  the  first  day's  battle,  and  after  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  position  sent  an  urgent  request  to  Meade  to 
accept  battle  there,  and  Meade  himself  came  upon  the 
field  early  in  the  morning  of  the  2d.  One  of  his  first 
acts  after  deciding  upon  his  new  battle  line  was  to  issue 


2—8 


114 


Old  Time  Notes 


an  order  that  has  been  very  justly  criticised.  He  knew 
that  the  issue  of  the  battle  was  not  free  from  doubt, 
and  he  exhibited  the  highest  soldierly  qualities  in 
issuing  the  order  that  has  made  many  underestimate 
his  soldierly  qualities.  His  order  to  the  several  corps 
commanders  was  practically  a  repetition  of  his  order 
to  them  notifying  them  of  the  line  on  Pipe  Creek, 
simply  adding  that  if  for  any  reason  it  should  be  deemed 
necessary  for  the  army  to  retire  from  the  Gettysburg 
field,  the  corps  should  proceed  at  once  to  the  locations 
assigned  for  each.  It  is  only  the  foolhardy  soldier 
who  neglects  his  lines  of  retreat  under  any  circum- 
stances, but  General  Meade  carefully  considered  the 
possible  enforced  retirement  of  his  army  from  Gettys- 
burg and  fully  fortified  himself  against  a  disorderly 
retreat.  Every  corps  commander,  if  ordered  to  retire 
from  Cemetery  Hill,  knew  precisely  where  he  should 
take  up  his  line  on  Pipe  Creek,  where  Meade  himself, 
an  accomplished  engineer,  had  chosen  a  favorable 
position. 

The  Army  of  the  Potom.ac  was  severely  exhausted 
before  it  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  The 
corps  of  Reynolds  and  Howard,  which  had  fought 
all  of  the  first  day  and  suffered  severe  loss,  were  illy 
fitted  for  battle  on  the  following  day,  and  the  several 
corps  which  arrived  during  the  night  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  had  come  by  forced  marches  when  they 
should  have  been  in  bivouac  and  at  rest.  It  was  not 
until  late  in  the  evening  of  the  2d  that  Sedgwick's 
corps  arrived  on  the  field  after  a  forced  march  of  nearly 
thirty  miles  on  that  day.  Such  was  the  condition  of 
Meade's  army  when  it  was  plunged  into  the  flame  of 
battle,  while  Lee's  army  had  made  no  forced  marches 
and  was  in  superb  physical  condition,  and  little  or  no 
rest  was  allowed  during  the  two  days  in  which  both 
armies  faced  each  other.    They  were  fighting  most  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


the  day,  and  instead  of  resting  at  night  the  Union  troops 
were  busily  engaged  in  strengthening  their  defenses. 

Meade  narrowly  escaped  a  serious  disaster  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  second  day  when  Sickles '  corps  arrived 
with  orders  to  take  position  on  the  left  center.  Whether 
or  not  the  orde£was  so  indefinite  because  of  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  ground  that  Sickles  did  not  under- 
stand it,  he  advanced  his  corps  far  beyond  the  pre- 
scribed lines  intended  by  Meade,  and  before  he  could 
get  his  command  even  in  complete  position,  Longstreet 
attacked  him,  and  the  bloodiest  conflict  of  all  the  many 
struggles  in  the  Gettysburg  battlefield  followed. 
Sickles'  corps  was  overwhelmed,  and  Meade  appeared 
in  person  and  had  to  bring  up  additional  corps  to 
enable  Sickles  to  be  retired  to  the  line.  General 
Sickles  has  always  earnestly  defended  his  movement 
as  dictated  by  sound  military  discretion,  but  Meade 
regarded  it  as  a  most  unfortunate  movement,  and  one 
that  might  have  been  very  serious  in  its  results.  It 
was  the  one  distinct  defeat  that  any  part  of  the  Union 
army  suffered  on  Cemetery  Hill.  Sickles  fell  early  in 
the  fight,  having  been  severely  wounded,  and  had  a 
leg  amputated  on  the  field. 

Meade  was  naturally  in  great  suspense  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  third  day,  as  Lee's  army  was  intact  in  front 
of  him,  and  no  movement  was  made  to  assail  the  Union 
army  until  after  noon,  when  all  of  Lee's  nearly  300 
gims  suddenly  opened  and  continued  an  unbroken  fire 
for  nearly  two  hours.  The  Union  guns  replied  for  a 
short  time,  but  it  soon  became  evident  that  Lee's 
desperate  artillery  fire  must  be  the  prelude  to  an  attack 
on  some  part  of  the  Union  lines,  and  General  Hunt, 
chief  of  artillery,  soon  ceased  firing  and  began  to  place 
his  guns  and  replenish  the  caissons  so  that  they  could 
be  concentrated  on  any  line  of  assault. 

Finally  the  thunders  of  Lee's  artillery  suddenly 


ii6 


Old  Time  Notes 


ceased  and  Pickett's  division  emerged  from  the  woods 
and  formed  in  line  for  its  desperate  charge  upon  the 
nearest  point  of  the  Union  Hne.  A  clump  of  small 
trees  just  behind  the  Bloody  Angle  made  an  objective 
point  for  the  assailing  forces,  as  the  stone  wall  behind 
which  the  Union  troops  were  defending  at  that  point 
extended  out  a  considerable  distance,  making  the  angle 
that  is  now  known  in  history  as  the  "Bloody  Angle" 
of  Gettysburg.  Pickett's  division  was  compelled  to 
march  three-quarters  of  a  mile  over  an  ascending  plain, 
and  the  two  fences  which  lined  the  Emmittsburg  road. 
From  the  moment  that  they  formed  in  line  in  the  open 
field  and  commenced  the  advance  they  came  under  the 
fire  of  150  Union  guns,  which  not  only  struck  them  in 
front,  but  enfiladed  both  flanks,  and  when  they  crossed 
half  the  distance  a  hail  of  infantry  bullets  met  them. 
There  was  not  a  single  general  officer  in  the  charge 
who  did  not  fall  either  killed  or  wounded,  and  a  divi- 
sion of  some  5,000  men  retreated  with  the  broken 
fragments  under  the  command  of  a  lieutenant  colonel. 

Meade  reached  the  battle  near  the  Bloody  Angle 
before  the  final  repulse  of  Pickett's  men,  and  personally 
witnessed  the  strangely  heroic  sons  of  the  South  who 
had  fought  their  way  through  such  a  hurricane  of  death 
and  crossed  the  stone  wall  to  die  or  surrender  in  the 
Union  lines.  Thus  late  in  the  evening  of  the  third 
day  of  the  battle  Meade  had  repulsed  what  he  had 
reason  to  believe  was,  and  what  proved  to  be,  the  final 
charge  of  Lee's  army,  and  he  has  been  criticised  because 
he  did  not  immediately  take  the  aggressive  and  assail 
Lee's  broken  columns. 

Lee's  entire  command  was  in  strong  position  with 
Seminary  Hill  as  its  center,  and  if  Meade's  army  had 
even  been  fresh  and  ready  for  exhaustive  effort,  it 
would  have  been  midsummer  madness  for  him  to  take 
the  aggressive.    If  he  had  done  so  he  would  simply 


Of  Pennsylvania 


117 


have  imitated  the  error  of  Lee  in  Pickett's  charge,  and 
the  fruits  of  Meade's  victory  might  have  been  measur- 
ably or  wholly  lost.  Meade's  entire  army  had  been 
engaged  in  forced  marches,  repeated  battles  and  severe 
labors  to  strengthen  entrenchments,  with  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  its  number  killed,  wounded  or  captured,  and 
it  was  not  in  a  condition  for  aggressive  movement, 
and  Meade  profited  by  the  severe  lesson  that  Lee  had 
been  taught.  He  held  the  safety  of  Washington  and 
Baltimore  in  his  hands,  when  the  loss  of  either  might 
have  decided  the  issue  of  the  war  by  the  recognition  of 
the  Confederacy  abroad,  and  I  accord  him  the  highest 
measure  of  heroic  soldierly  qualities  in  deciding  to 
hold  his  defensive  position  of  safety. 

On  another  occasion  Meade  exhibited  a  degree  of 
heroic  soldierly  qualities  that  not  one  commander  in  a 
hundred  would  have  had  the  courage  to  exhibit.  Late 
in  the  fall  of  1863  he  discovered  that  Lee's  army  was 
divided,  and  he  made  a  sudden  movement  to  Mine 
Run  to  strike  Lee's  forces  in  detail,  but  a  mistake  in 
the  movement  of  one  of  his  corps  advised  the  enemy 
of  the  approach,  and  when  Meade  reached  Mine  Run 
he  found  Lee's  united  army  entrenched  in  an  invul- 
nerable position.  At  a  council  of  war  it  was  decided 
to  make  an  assault,  and  on  the  morning  just  before  the 
assault  was  to  be  made,  Meade  personally  inspected 
the  position  of  the  enemy  and  was  brave  enough  to 
order  his  army  to  fall  back  without  firing  a  gun. 

If  Meade  could  have  taken  position  in  advance  of 
Lee's  retreating  army,  he  could  have  greatly  impeded 
it  and  made  it  suffer  serious  loss  in  the  many  motmtain 
ga:ps  and  ravines  through  which  it  was  compelled  to 
pass,  but  if  Meade  had  attempted  to  pursue,  there 
were  many  passes  where  a  brigade  could  have  held  a 
corps  at  bay,  and  fight  under  every  possible  advantage. 
Knowing  this,  Meade  moved  by  the  more  open  route 


ii8 


Old  Time  Notes 


to  the  Potomac,  and  at  Williamsport  Lee  was  in  posi- 
tion where,  if  Meade  had  attacked  him,  Lee  would 
have  had  every  advantage  that  Meade  had  in  Lee's 
attack  on  the  hills  of  Gettysburg. 

Lincoln  was  greatly  disappointed  that  Lee  left 
Gettysburg  and  crossed  the  Potomac  without  being 
forced  to  give  battle  again,  and  he  never  fully  justified 
Meade's  failure  to  take  the  aggressive.  I  saw  him  soon 
after  the  battle,  and  as  Gettysburg  was  in  my  senatorial 
district,  and  I  understood  the  highways  and  mountain 
passes,  he  made  very  minute  inquiry  as  to  the  roads.  I 
said  to  him  that  he  did  not  seem  to  be  entirely  satis- 
fied with  what  Meade  had  done,  to  which  he  answered 
in  these  words:  ''I  am  profoundly  grateful  to  Meade, 
down  to  my  very  boots,  for  what  he  did  at  Gettysburg, 
but  I  think  if  I  had  been  Meade  I  would  have  fought 
another  battle. ' '  While  Grant  and  Meade  were  never 
in  open  or  actual  discord  during  the  campaign  of  1864, 
I  speak  advisedly  when  I  say  that  Meade  did  not  ap- 
prove of  giving  battle  in  the  Wilderness,  where  the  army 
suffered  such  frightful  loss  without  seriously  injuring 
the  enemy.  Some  time  after  Grant's  election  to  the 
Presidenc3^  and  before  he  was  inaugurated,  I  was  a 
guest  at  a  dinner  given  to  Grant  by  John  Rice,  Twenty- 
first  and  Walnut,  Philadelphia.  There  were  forty  or 
fifty  guests,  and  my  seat  happened  to  be  by  the  side 
of  General  Meade,  who  was  not  very  far  from  the  guest 
of  honor.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation  I  made  some 
inquiry  about  the  Wilderness  campaign,  and,  to  my 
utter  surprise,  Meade  became  much  excited  and  spoke 
in  terms  of  the  strongest  condemmation  of  the  wanton 
sacrifice  made  by  the  army  in  that  campaign.  He 
said  that  if  his  suggestions  and  reports  in  relation  to 
that  campaign  ever  reached  the  public,  the  movement 
would  be  severely  criticised.  He  spoke  with  so  much 
feeling  that  I  had  to  quietly  remind  him  that  he  might 


Of  Pennsylvania 


119 


be  heard  by  Grant  himself.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  when  Grant  came  to  appoint  a  Heu- 
tenant  general  to  succeed  Sherman,  he  preferred 
Sheridan,  whom  he  loved,  to  Meade,  for  whom  he 
cherished  no  kindlier  feeling  than  respect  for  him  as  a 
soldier. 

The  nation  has  not  justly  appreciated  and  honored 
the  incalculable  service  rendered  by  General  Meade 
at  Gettysburg,  but  in  Pennsylvania,  the  grand  old  Com- 
monwealth that  was  his  home,  and  where  he  now 
sleeps  in  the  City  of  the  Silent,  his  name  should  ever 
be  lisped  with  reverence  and  affection. 


120 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXIII. 

THE  SENATE  DEADLOCK  IN  1864. 

General  Harry  White,  a  Republican  Senator,  in  Libby  Prison,  Leaving 
the  Senate  with  Sixteen  Democrats  and  Sixteen  Republicans — All 
Offers  for  White's  Exchange  Refused  by  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment— Speaker  Penny  Retained  the  Chair — The  Democratic  Senators 
Refused  Him  Recognition — General  White's  Father  Delivers  the 
Senator's  Resignation  to  the  Governor — Dr.  St.  Clair  Elected  at  a 
Special  Election  Restoring  the  Republicans  to  Authority — The 
Movement  to  Care  for  the  Soldiers'  Orphans — Curtin's  Extraordinary 
Efforts  to  Give  it  Success — Violent  Partisan  Legislation  Governing 
Elections  in  the  Field — Jerrie  McKibben,  One  of  Curtin's  Commis- 
sioners, Imprisoned  by  Stanton — The  Story  of  His  Release. 

THE  re-election  of  Curtin  in  1863,  with  75,000 
disfranchised  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  the 
leading  Cameron  men  sincerely  anxious  for 
his  defeat,  gave  Curtin  a  position  of  apparent  political 
omnipotence  in  the  State  that  would  have  made  almost 
any  other  than  General  Cameron  despair  of  being  able 
to  wrest  the  control  of  the  party  from  the  Governor,  but 
Cameron  was  not  only  one  of  the  most  sagacious 
political  leaders  of  this  or  any  other  State,  but  he  was 
a  man  of  tireless  energy  and  would  rise  up  from  defeat 
after  defeat  to  renew  his  battle  for  the  mastery.  He 
had  taken  no  part  in  the  gubernatorial  contest  until  a 
short  time  before  the  election,  when  the  intensity  of 
patriotic  sentiment  in  the  State  made  it  necessary  for 
him  to  show  his  hand  distinctly  in  favor  of  Curtin.  A 
Republican  mass  meeting  was  called  in  Harrisburg  to 
be  addressed  by  General  Ben  Butler,  at  which  Cameron 
presided,  and  declared  himself  with  emphasis  in  favor 
of  the  success  of  the  party  candidate. 


Of  Pennsylvania  121 


It  was  not  then  expected  that  Curtin  was  likely  to 
live  to  complete  his  second  temi.  Although  he  took 
little  part  in  the  campaign  because  of  his  greatly  en- 
feebled condition,  it  was,  nevertheless,  very  exhausting 
because  of  the  anxiety  naturally  felt,  and  the  constant 
pressure  upon  his  time  by  political  as  well  as  official 
duties.  He  was  confined  to  his  room  for  a  week  or 
more  after  the  election.  Although  the  severe  strain 
was  over,  the  reaction  greatly  prostrated  him,  and  his 
family  and  friends  were  very  apprehensive  of  an  early 
collapse.  He  frequently  appeared  at  the  Executive 
office,  but  avoided  all  official  duties  which  could  be 
transferred  to  any  of  his  subordinates.  With  all  the 
care  that  he  exercised  for  the  restoration  of  his  health, 
as  the  time  approached  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Legislature,  to  be  followed  soon  by  his  second  inaug- 
uration, there  was  no  perceptible  improvement  in  his 
physical  vigor. 

I  saw  him  at  the  Executive  mansion  on  Friday,  when 
his  inauguration  was  to  take  place  two  weeks  from  the 
following  Tuesday.  He  was  quite  feeble,  and  spoke 
about  the  difficulty  of  undertaking  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress, saying  that  he  had  put  it  off  from  day  to  day 
until  it  had  become  a  source  of  v/orry  to  him.  I  asked 
him  to  come  to  Chambersburg  the  next  day  and  stay 
with  me  over  Sunday,  adding  that  I  would  help  him 
out  with  the  inaugural,  to  which  he  answered:  "  Well, 
if  you  will  write  an  inaugural  for  me  and  have  it  ready 
when  I  come  to  Chambersburg  to-morrow  evening,  I 
will  dismiss  the  subject  and  join  you  to  rest  over  Sun- 
day." I  told  him  I  would  have  it  ready.  I  returned 
home  that  evening  and  before  retiring  to  bed  wrote 
the  address.  I  met  the  Governor  at  the  depot  the 
next  evening  and  his  first  question  was:  Well,  is  the 
inaugural  ready?"  To  which  I  answered  that  it  was. 
He  seemed  delighted  that  the  inaugural  was  disposed 


122 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  and  he  never  made  any  allusion  to  it,  nor  any  inquiry 
as  to  what  it  contained,  until  Sunday  evening,  when  I 
suggested  that  as  he  was  to  return  to  Harrisburg  the 
next  morning  it  would  be  well  for  him  to  look  at  the 
draft  of  the  inaugural  I  had  prepared,  and  handed  him 
the  manuscript.  He  read  it  carefully,  without  remark, 
until  he  was  through,  when  he  said :  That's  all  right.'* 
He  folded  it  up  and  put  it  in  his  coat  pocket.  No 
change  was  made  in  the  draft  I  gave  him,  excepting 
the  addition  of  the  last  two  paragraphs,  which  were 
added  by  Attorney  General  Meredith. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  statement  that 
Curtin  relied  largely  upon  others  for  the  preparation  of 
his  important  State  papers.  If  he  had  been  enjoying  a 
reasonable  degree  of  health  he  would  have  prepared 
his  second  inaugural  as  he  did  his  first,  and  all  his  other 
important  State  papers,  excepting  only  such  as  involved 
legal  questions,  which  were  written  by  the  attorney 
general.  No  Governor  of  the  State  ever  was  called 
upon  to  present  so  many  important  official  State 
papers  as  were  called  for  by  the  varied  emergencies 
which  arose  during  Curtin 's  administration,  and  with 
the  few  exceptions  I  have  stated,  he  always  prepared 
them  himself.  While  Quay  was  his  private  secretary, 
he  usually  dictated  and  Quay  would  take  it  down  in 
abbreviated  notes,  and  as  he  was  a  master  in  the  use 
of  the  best  English,  he  always  presented  the  copies  to 
Curtin  in  faultless  style.  When  dictating  on  a  subject 
of  special  importance  he  was  always  on  his  feet,  walking 
leisurely  back  and  forth  in  the  room  with  his  sntiff-box 
in  hand,  and  when  warmed  up  on  his  subject  he  was 
liberal  in  the  use  of  the  snuff.  Curtin  was  unusually 
fluent  in  speech  and  when  writing  became  irksome  he 
soon  learned  to  dictate  with  ease  without  impairing  the 
vigor  of  his  composition. 

After  Curtin 's  second  inauguration  it  was  decided 


Of  Pennsylvania 


123 


by  his  physicians  that  he  must  take  a  season  of  abso- 
lute rest,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  Legis- 
lature. They  declared  that  he  could  not  survive  a 
winter  in  Harrisburg  with  the  constant  pressure  that 
would  be  upon  him  even  with  the  exercise  of  the  great- 
est care.  His  system  seemed  to  be  entirely  broken 
and  his  recuperative  powers  exhausted.  President 
Lincoln  had  Secretary  Welles  tender  him  a  government 
vessel  to  take  him  to  Havana,  where  it  was  decided 
that  he  should  spend  part  of  the  winter,  and  I  well 
remember  how  despair  was  pictured  upon  the  faces  of 
his  many  friends  who  bade  him  farewell  in  Philadelphia 
when  he  started  on  his  cruise  for  the  South.  Not  one 
of  us  believed  that  we  would  ever  see  him  again  alive, 
but  in  Cuba  his  health  improved  rapidly,  and  by  the 
middle  of  March  he  was  back  again  in  the  Executive 
chamber  enjoying  a  degree  of  vigor  that  he  had  not 
possessed  for  more  than  a  year.  There  was  then  no 
Lieutenant  Governor  and  the  speaker  of  the  senate 
could  exercise  executive  powers  only  in  the  event  of  the 
death  or  resignation  of  a  Governor.  Thus  Pennsyl- 
vania was  for  more  than  a  month  without  an  executive 
officer,  which  did  not  embarrass  legislation,  excepting 
that  it  saved  the  Legislature  from  the  veto  power  of 
the  Executive,  as  all  bills  passed  by  the  senate  and 
house  became  laws  at  the  expiration  of  ten  days  after 
received  in  the  Executive  office,  without  the  signature 
of  the  Governor,  unless  within  that  time  the  Governor 
exercised  the  veto  power. 

It  happened,  however,  that  there  was  little  or  no 
legislation  during  the  Governor's  absence,  as  the  senate 
had  sixteen  Democrats  and  sixteen  Republicans,  with 
Senator  Harry  White,  of  Indiana,  in  Libby  Prison. 
He  had  been  captured  in  Milroy's  retreat  from  Win- 
chester, and  it  became  known  to  the  Confederate 
authorities  at  Richmond  that  as  long  as  White  was  a 


124 


Old  Time  Notes 


prisoner  the  Republicans,  regarded  by  the  South  as  the 
war  party  of  the  North,  could  pass  no  legislation. 
Liberal  offers  were  made  for  the  exchange  of  Senator 
White,  but  they  were  stubbornly  refused,  and  the 
deadlock  was  finally  broken  by  White's  resignation 
and  the  prompt  election  of  his  successor. 

Many  amusing  incidents  occurred  in  the  senate  dur- 
ing the  deadlock.  Partisan  prejudice  was  then  at  its 
zenith  and  it  was  at  times  difficult  for  even  grave  sena- 
tors to  maintain  the  courtesies  which  were  always 
expected  in  the  first  legislative  tribunal  of  the  State. 
The  Constitution  was  silent,  and  there  was  no  law  as 
to  the  particular  method  of  organizing  the  senate, 
although  it  had  been  uniformly  accepted  by  both 
parties  that  the  senate  was  always  an  organized  body, 
as  the  speaker  was  chosen  at  the  close  of  every  session 
to  serve  during  the  recess  and  take  the  office  of  Gover- 
nor in  case  of  a  vacancy.  The  uniform  custom,  how- 
ever, had  been  for  the  speaker  who  served  during  the 
recess  to  allow  the  clerk  of  the  Senate  to  call  the  body 
to  order,  instead  of  the  speaker  taking  the  chair  him- 
self, and  call  the  roll  of  senators  to  elect  a  speaker.  In 
point  of  fact,  and  I  doubt  not  equally  in  point  of  law, 
Senator  Penny,  of  Allegheny,  who  had  been  chosen 
speaker  at  a  previous  session  to  serve  during  the  recess, 
was  the  speaker  of  the  body  imtil  a  successor  was 
chosen,  or  his  term  as  senator  expired,  but  there  had 
been  no  occasion  for  a  speaker  of  the  senate  to  exercise 
such  authority,  and  it  had  never  been  done.  The 
house  was  called  to  order  by  the  clerk,  because  there 
was  no  other  official  of  the  body  competent  to  exercise 
any  authority  until  a  speaker  was  chosen. 

Of  course,  the  Republicans  well  knew  that  they 
could  not  elect  a  speaker  with  sixteen  Democratic  and 
sixteen  Republican  senators,  and  the  distempered  con- 
dition of  political  affairs  at  that  time  made  it  impossi- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


125 


ble  for  the  two  parties  to  reach  a  compromise  organi- 
zation that  would  have  been  easy  to  accompHsh  imder 
ordinary  conditions,  as  the  leaders  of  the  two  parties 
could  have  harmonized  by  a  division  of  offices  and 
committees.  Such  a  solution  of  the  problem,  how- 
ever, was  unthought  of  on  either  side  in  January,  1864, 
when  the  Legislature  met  and  the  Republicans  decided 
in  caucus  that  the  senate  was  always  an  organized 
body  and  that  Senator  Penny  should  take  the  chair 
and  continue  to  preside  until  his  successor  was  chosen. 
To  the  surprise  of  the  Democrats,  when  the  senate  met. 
Speaker  Penny  took  the  chair  and  called  the  body  to 
order.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  the  State 
and  a  man  so  blameless  in  his  public  career  that  even 
his  bitterest  political  enemies  found  it  difficult  to  assail 
him.  The  Democrats  refused  to  recognize  him  as 
speaker,  and  exhausted  their  ingenuity  to  embarrass 
him  in  the  position  he  assumed,  but  he  m.aintained 
himself  with  imbroken  dignity  during  the  long  weeks 
through  which  the  deadlock  continued.  The  Demo- 
crats asstimed  that  the  senate  was  not  an  organized 
body  and,  therefore,  incapable  of  any  legislation.  No 
matter  what  proposition  was  presented,  the  Democrats 
uniformly  voted  against  it  on  the  ground  that  the 
senate  was  incompetent  to  consider  the  question,  and 
as  the  Republicans  were  powerless  to  legislate  they 
exhausted  their  ingenuity  in  making  the  Democrats 
vote  against  the  divinity  of  the  Bible,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  nearly  every  other  vital  feature 
of  Democratic  faith. 

Finally  the  elder  Judge  White,  the  father  of  Senator 
White,  brought  into  the  Governor's  office  Senator 
White's  resignation,  written  on  tissue  paper  that,  as 
the  father  reported  it,  had  been  concealed  in  the  Bible 
of  an  exchanged  prisoner.  The  genuineness  of  the 
resignation  was  very  generally  questioned  by  the 


126 


Old  Time  Notes 


Democrats,  while  the  Republicans  were  quite  willing 
to  accept  it  without  inquiry.  It  was  promptly  ac- 
cepted by  the  Governor,  a  writ  issued  for  a  special 
election  to  fill  the  vacancy  at  the  shortest  possible 
notice,  and  Dr.  St.  Clair,  Republican,  was  chosen  and 
entered  the  senate  the  morning  after  his  certificate  was 
received,  when  Senator  Penny  was  promptly  elected 
speaker  and  legitimate  legislation  began. 

The  Legislature  of  1864  inaugurated  the  Soldiers' 
Orphan  School  system  of  the  State,  but  in  a  most 
hesitating  and  grudging  manner.  When  on  his  way  to 
church  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  of  1862,  Governor  Curtin 
was  met  on  the  street  by  two  children  begging  alms. 
His  sympathetic  nature  was  attracted  to  the  children, 
and  he  stopped  to  inquire  into  their  condition.  The 
first  answer  that  came  to  him  touched  his  heart.  It 
was  in  these  words:  ''Father  was  killed  in  the  war." 
He  promptly  gave  them  a  liberal  contribution  and 
passed  on  to  church,  but  he  was  so  profoundly  impressed 
by  the  pathos  of  the  remark  made  to  him  by  the  begging 
children  that  he  gave  little  attention  to  the  Thanks- 
giving sermon  that  grated  harshly  on  his  ears  as  he  was 
called  upon  to  give  thanks  for  the  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness the  cotintry  enjoyed  when  the  orphan  children  of 
fallen  soldiers  were  begging  on  the  streets.  A  few 
weeks  after  the  Legislature  of  1864  met,  and  in  his 
annual  message,  he  said:  "I  commend  to  the  prompt 
attention  of  the  Legislature  the  subject  of  the  relief 
of  the  poor  orphans  of  our  soldiers  who  have  given,  or 
shall  give,  their  lives  to  the  country  during  this  crisis. 
In  my  opinion  their  maintenance  and  education  should 
be  provided  for  by  the  State.  Failing  other  natural 
efforts  of  ability  to  provide  for  them,  they  should  be 
honorably  received  and  fostered  as  the  children  of  the 
Commonwealth. ' ' 

The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  had  contrib- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


127 


tited  $50,000  to  be  used  by  the  State  authorities  in  any 
way  deemed  best  to  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war, 
and  the  Governor  recommended  that  this  $50,000  be 
made  the  nucleus  of  a  fund  for  the  care  of  the  orphans 
of  our  fallen  soldiers,  and  a  bill  was  introduced  on  the 
8th  of  April,  1864,  when  the  Governor  had  returned  from 
his  visit  to  Cuba,  prepared  by  Professor  Wickersham, 
at  the  request  of  the  Governor,  providing  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  superintendent  of  schools  for  orphans, 
with  authority  to  select  from  any  of  the  schools  estab- 
lished by  the  Commonwealth  a  certain  number  adapted 
for  the  use  of  schools  and  homes  for  the  orphans.  The 
Legislature  hesitated  to  adopt  a  measure  that  would 
bind  the  State  to  the  probable  expenditure  of  millions 
of  dollars,  and  finally  passed  a  substitute  bill  simply 
authorizing  the  Governor  to  accept  the  $50,000  con- 
tributed by  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  for 
the  education  and  maintenance  of  the  soldiers'  orphans 
in  such  manner  as  the  Governor  might  deem  best. 

The  Legislature  of  1864  was  severely  criticised  for 
its  alleged  want  of  liberality  in  dealing  with  the  soldiers' 
orphans,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  1863  the 
financial  condition  of  the  State  was  not  such  as  to 
warrant  any  severe  extra  strain  upon  it.  The  Gover- 
nor was  greatly  disappointed  at  the  action  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  decided  to  inaugurate  the  system  with  the 
$50,000  at  his  disposal  and  he  appointed  Thomas  H. 
Burrowes  as  superintendent  of  soldiers'  orphans,  who 
placed  a  large  number  of  children,  from  six  to  ten  years 
of  age,  in  the  charitable  institutions  of  the  State.  The 
first  institution  to  accept  and  heartily  second  the 
movement  was  the  Northern  Home  for  Friendless 
Children,  in  Philadelphia,  and  it  was  the  first  soldiers' 
orphan  home  established  in  the  State. 

The  Governor  felt  assured  that  the  system  once 
wisely  inaugurated  would  be  heartily  maintained  by 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  people,  and  at  the  close  of  the  year  1865  there  were 
eight  schools  for  the  older  and  seventeen  homes  and 
asylums  for  the  yoimger  children,  making  a  total  of 
1,329  pupils,  but  the  only  additional  appropriation  the 
Governor  was  able  to  obtain  was  $75,000.  When  the 
Legislature  met  in  1866  the  Governor  stormed  the 
Legislature  into  hearty  accord  with  the  soldiers' 
orphan  system  by  inviting  345  pupils  of  the  soldiers' 
orphan  schools  of  McAllisterville,  Mount  Joy  and  Para- 
dise, and  asked  permission  of  the  house  of  representa- 
tives to  have  them  appear  in  the  hall.  They  came  in 
the  uniform  of  the  schools,  and  Governor  Curtin,  in 
the  presence  of  the  members  of  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  an  inspiring  spectacle  with  the  orphans 
clustered  around  him,  delivered  an  appeal  to  the  Legis- 
lature that  silenced  the  opposition,  and  thereafter  the 
soldiers'  orphan  schools  were  liberally  supported  by 
the  State — supported,  in  fact,  in  later  years  to  an 
extent  that  justly  invited  criticism.  The  system  is 
still  maintained  under  the  steady  enlargement  of  its 
aims  until  over  $12,000,000  have  been  expended  by  the 
Commonwealth  in  obedience  to  Governor  Curtin 's 
command  that  the  orphans  of  our  soldiers  and  sailors 
who  fell  or  were  disabled  in  military  service  should  be 
made  the  wards  of  the  State.  No  other  State  of  the 
Union  approached  Pennsylvania  in  the  care  of  the 
children  of  its  fallen  heroes,  and  with  all  the  abuses 
which  have  crept  into  it  long  after  Curtin 's  control  had 
ceased,  it  stands  to-day  as  one  of  the  grandest  monu- 
ments of  the  beneficence  of  a  great  Commonwealth. 

Another  very  important  act  of  the  Legislature  of 
1864  was  the  final  passage  of  the  proposed  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  State  authorizing  the  sol- 
diers in  the  field  to  vote  in  their  camps  at  all  Pennsyl- 
vania elections.  In  order  to  make  the  amendment 
effective  in  the  Presidential  election  of  1864,  it  was 


of  Pennsylvania 


129 


necessary  to  call  a  special  election  to  enable  the  people 
to  vote  on  the  amendment,  as  required  by  the  Constitu- 
tion. A  special  election  was  fixed  for  early  in  August, 
and  the  amendment  was  sustained  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.  It  was  well  known  that  the  amendment 
would  be  ratified  by  the  popular  vote,  and  the  Legis- 
lature of  1864  had  a  most  bitter  struggle  in  the  passage 
of  an  elaborate  election  law  providing  for  holding  elec- 
tions and  certifying  returns  by  soldiers  in  the  field. 
Partisan  bitterness  was  then  at  what  might  be  called 
high-water  mark,  and  even  the  legislators  who,  under 
ordinary  conditions,  would  have  been  conservative 
and  just  in  framing  an  election  law,  were  driven  by  the 
intensity  of  partisan  prejudice  to  support  an  election 
law  that  practically  gave  the  whole  election  into  the 
hands  of  politicians,  with  little  or  nothing  to  restrain 
them  in  the  perpetration  of  the  most  flagrant  frauds. 
I  was  not  then  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  but  was 
requested  by  the  Governor  to  join  him  in  an  earnest 
effort  to  temper  the  violent  partisan  features  of  the 
proposed  measure,  and  secure  an  election  law  that 
would  be  accepted  as  at  least  reasonably  fair  to  all. 
The  bill  as  reported  by  the  committee,  and  generally 
accepted  as  the  party  measure,  bristled  with  invita- 
tions to  fraud  and  opened  the  widest  doors  for  its 
perpetration.  I  was  present  in  the  Executive  chamber 
with  Curtin  when  he  had  summoned  ten  or  a  dozen  of 
the  prominent  Republicans  of  both  senate  and  house 
and  made  a  m.ost  earnest  appeal  to  them  to  maintain 
the  integrity  of  Pennsylvania  elections  by  framing  a 
perfectly  fair  bill  to  govern  soldiers'  elections  in  the 
field.  AH  admitted  the  justice  of  the  Governor's 
appeal,  but  none  had  the  courage  to  brave  the  tidal 
wave  of  partisan  passion  that  ruled. 

The  result  was  that  the  Pennsylvania  statute  was  a 
dishonor  to  the  Commonwealth.    Among  other  pro- 


2—9 


Old  Time  Notes 


visions  it  authorized  the  Governor  to  appoint  State 
Commissioners  to  be  present  in  the  field  on  election 
day,  but  without  power  beyond  the  right  to  report 
irregularities  or  frauds.  The  bill  was  passed  very  late 
in  the  session,  and  the  Governor  could  not  withhold 
his  approval.  I  urged  him  to  appoint  a  number  of 
Democrats  of  high  standing  among  the  State  commis- 
sioners to  vindicate  his  own  sense  of  fairness,  but  his 
answer  was:  Where  can  I  find  Democrats  who  will 
go?"  I  replied  that  we  could  certainly  find  half  a 
dozen  or  more  who  would  accept  the  Governor's  com- 
mission, and  among  others  I  named  Jerrie  McKibben, 
of  Philadelphia,  and  he  was  appointed  along  with 
several  other  Democrats.  I  notified  McKibben  of  his 
appointment,  and  requested  his  acceptance,  but  his 
answer  was  that  he  couldn't  accept,  as  Stanton  would 
have  him  in  Old  Capitol  Prison  in  three  days.  I  told 
him  that  Secretary  Stanton  would  not  attempt  to 
imprison  an  ofiicer  holding  a  commission  from  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  unless  he  committed  some 
flagrant  wrong,  and  that  as  I  knew  he  was  too  discreet 
to  undertake  to  interfere  with  the  election  in  any  way 
whatever,  he  was  entirely  safe  from  the  Secretary.  He 
did  accept,  and  in  three  days  after  he  joined  the  army, 
then  aroimd  Petersburg,  he  telegraphed  me  to  come  to 
Washington  at  once,  as  he  was  in  Old  Capitol  Prison. 
I  hastened  to  Washington,  reaching  there  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  proceeded  directly  to  the 
White  House  to  present  the  matter  to  the  President. 
I  told  him  that  several  Democrats  had  been  persuaded 
reluctantly  to  accept  these  commissions  with  the 
full  knowledge  that  they  would  perfomi  no  official 
duties  beyond  delivering  election  papers  committed 
to  their  charge,  and  that  they  had  been  appointed  by 
Governor  Curtin  solely  to  give  some  semblance  of  fair- 
ness to  the  elections  in  the  field.    He  at  once  sent  to 


Of  Pennsylvania 


the  War  Department  for  the  papers  on  which  the 
arrest  had  been  made,  and  when  he  received  them,  in 
five  minutes  he  saw  that  the  order  of  arrest  was  made 
on  the  ground  that  he  had  deHvered  fraudulent  election 
papers,  although  he  had  delivered  precisely  the  same 
papers  prepared  by  the  commissioners  of  Philadelphia 
that  had  been  delivered  by  the  Republican  commission- 
ers. A  typographical  error  that  could  not  in  any  way 
affect  the  election  had  been  overlooked  by  the  com- 
missioners, and  McKibben  was  held  responsible.  Lin- 
coln pronounced  the  arrest  '*a  stupid  blunder,"  and 
told  me  that  he  would  at  once  discharge  McKibben. 
He  said  he  thought  it  was  due  to  Stanton,  who  had 
ordered  the  arrest,  to  release  McKibben  on  parole,  to 
which  I  answered  that  McKibben  could  be  at  once 
released  on  parole  and  that  I  would  call  at  the  Presi- 
dent's room  at  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning,  where  I 
hoped  Stanton  would  be  present,  and  would  have 
McKibben  absolutely  discharged.  The  President  wrote 
out  himself  the  order  for  McKibben 's  release,  and  I 
hastened  to  Old  Capitol  Prison  and  supped  with  him  at 
the  hotel. 

I  called  at  the  White  House  the  next  morning  at  the 
appointed  hour,  but  Stanton  had  not  appeared.  A 
few  minutes  later  he  came  in.  He  entered  the  room 
in  a  violent  passion  and  his  first  remark  to  me  was: 
"  Well,  McClure,  what  damned  rebel  are  you  now  trying 
to  get  out  of  trouble?"  I  told  him  that  he  had  im- 
prisoned McKibben,  whom  he  hated  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  McKibben 's  father  and  family  had 
been  his  friends  in  Pittsburg  when  he  greatly  needed 
friends,  and  that  if  he  had  looked  for  a  moment  at  the 
papers  he  could  not  have  committed  such  an  outrage 
as  to  order  the  imprisonment.  Stanton  was  flagrantly 
offensive  in  all  he  said,  and  refused  to  order  McKibben 
discharged  from  parole,  but  said  a  formal  application 


132 


Old  Time  Notes 


should  be  made  which  he  would  consider.  I  told  him 
that  I  did  not  know  what  Jerrie  McKibben  would  do, 
but  that  if  Stanton  committed  the  same  outrage  upon 
me,  as  there  was  a  God  above  I  would  not  leave  the  city 
until  I  cropped  his  ears.  Stanton  made  no  reply,  but 
after  rushing  back  and  forth  several  times  across  the 
room,  he  suddenly  left  the  Executive  chamber  and 
slammed  the  door  violently  after  him.  Lincoln  said 
nothing  during  this  belligerent  interview,  but  after 
Stanton  left,  in  his  quaint  way,  he  remarked  that  I  had 
not  been  very  successful  in  persuading  the  Secretary 
of  War.  He  added,  however,  that  the  incident  was 
closed,  that  McKibben  was  free  and  that  his  parole  was 
a  matter  of  no  moment.  I  filed  a  formal  application 
for  McKibben 's  release  from  parole,  and  after  a  week 
received  a  formal  notice,  all  in  the  bold  scrawl  of  Stan- 
ton's handwriting,  stating  that  the  subject  of  the  parole 
of  McKibben  had  been  fully  considered  and  that  the 
interests  of  the  service  required  that  it  should  not  be 
granted.  The  result  was  that  Jerrie  McKibben  died  a 
prisoner  on  parole  some  fifteen  years  later,  and  nearly 
ten  years  after  the  great  War  Minister  had  gone  to  his 
final  account. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


133 


LXIY 

HOW  LINCOLN  NOMINATED  JOHNSON. 

The  Inner  Story  of  the  Sagacious  Political  Movements  Which  Nominated 
Andrew  Johnson  for  Vice-President  over  Hamlin — How  Lincoln 
Managed  to  Unite  Pennsylvania  for  Johnson  without  His  Movements 
Being  Known — Cameron  First  in  Lincoln's  Confidence  to  Start  the 
Johnson  Movement — A  Shade  of  Distrust  Between  Lincoln  and 
Cameron — Why  Lincoln  Forced  the  Author  to  Become  a  Delegate - 
at-Large  to  the  National  Convention — How  Cameron  and  the  Author 
were  Elected  without  a  Contest — The  Delegation  Finally  United  on 
Johnson. 

THE  political  condition  in  Pennsylvania  at  the 
opening  of  1864  was  anything  but  serene. 
While  the  Republicans  generally  accepted 
and  sincerely  desired  the  renomination  of  President 
Lincoln,  he  was  very  earnestly  and  even  bitterly  opposed 
by  some  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the  party,  and  among 
them  Thaddeus  Stevens,  then  the  commoner  of  the 
House,  who  was  violent  against  the  policy  of  the  Presi- 
dent, while  such  distinguished  leaders  as  Chase,  Wade, 
Siimner,  Chandler,  Henry  Winter  Davis  and  others 
openly  proclaimed  their  purpose  to  make  exhaustive 
effort  to  retire  Lincoln.  The  Republicans  at  that  time 
were  in  the  attitude  toward  Lincoln  that  the  Demo- 
crats were  toward  Cleveland  in  1892.  In  both  cases 
the  people  of  the  party  were  absolutely  and  earnestly 
in  support  of  the  candidates,  while  the  leaders  of  the 
party  were  largely  against  them.  The  Republican 
people  had  absolute  faith  in  Lincoln  as  the  Democrats 
in  1892  had  in  Cleveland,  and  Cameron  saw  his 
opportunity  to  gain  power  and  prestige  by  taking 
the  lead  in  an  aggressive  movement  in  favor  of  Lincoln's 
nomination. 


134 


Old  Time  Notes 


Curtin  and  his  friends  were  as  sincerely  in  favor  of 
Lincoln  as  was  Cameron,  but  soon  after  the  Legisla- 
ture convened  m  January,  Cameron  made  a  quiet 
combination  by  which  a  paper  strongly  recommend- 
ing the  renomination  of  Lincoln  was  signed  by  every 
Republican  senator  and  representative  at  Harrisburg. 
It  was  known  that  the  relations  between  Lincoln  and 
Cameron  had  been  severely  strained  by  Cameron's 
enforced  retirement  from  the  cabinet  in  the  early  part 
of  1862,  and  his  open  advocacy  of  Lincoln's  renomina- 
tion was  not  only  in  accord  with  the  general  sentiment 
of  the  Republican  people,  but  it  had  all  the  marks  of 
a  chivalrous  act  on  the  part  of  Cameron.  Cameron 
had  not  been  forced  from  the  cabinet  by  Lincoln  him- 
self, but  by  conditions  which  made  it  necessary  for 
Lincoln  to  retire  him.  He  was  unfortunate  in  having 
a  host  of  friends  who  were  most  importunate  in  demand- 
ing official  plunder  from  him,  and  while  his  official 
record  in  the  War  Office  was  free  from  the  stain  of  cor- 
ruption on  his  part,  political  necessities  forced  him  to 
give  promotion  and  contracts  to  men  who  abused  the 
trust  he  reposed  in  them  and  brought  reproach  upon 
his  department  and  the  government. 

Cameron  knew  that  the  pressure  was  very  strong 
upon  the  President  to  retire  him,  and  whenever  the 
movement  assumed  some  measure  of  importance  he 
notified  the  President  that  his  resignation  was  at  the 
disposal  of  the  President  at  any  time  for  his  accep- 
tance. The  culmination  came  when  a  committee  of 
financial  men  found  it  next  to  impossible  to  maintain 
the  credit  of  the  government,  and  one  of  the  many 
grave  obstacles  in  the  way  was  the  alleged  profligacy 
and  corruption  in  organizing,  equipping  and  main- 
taining the  army.  The  committee  called  upon  the 
President  and  informed  him  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  negotiate  further  loans  without  a  change  in  the  War 


of  Pennsylvania 


135 


Department  that  would  emphasize  the  purpose  of 
the  government  to  have  it  administered  in  severe  integ- 
rity and  economy.  Lincoln  had  Cameron's  distinct 
authority  to  accept  Cameron's  resignation  at  anytime, 
and  thus  retire  him  from  the  cabinet,  and  without 
consulting  Cameron  or  Stanton,  or  any  others,  he  wrote 
a  brief  letter  to  Secretary  Cameron,  simply  stating 
that  he  had  decided  to  nominate  Cameron  to  the 
Senate  as  Minister  to  Russia,  and  Edwin  M.  Stanton 
to  succeed  him  as  Secretary  of  War. 

This  letter  was  given  by  the  President  to  Secretary 
Chase  with  instructions  to  deliver  it  to  Cameron  in 
person,  but  Cameron  dined  with  Colonel  Forney  that 
evening  and  Chase  did  not  find  him  until  ten  o'clock 
at  night.  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott  was  then  Assistant 
Secretary  of  War,  and  I  happened  to  be  in  Washington 
that  day  and  spent  the  evening  with  Colonel  Scott  at 
his  oftice  in  the  War  Department.  About  eleven  o'clock 
Secretary  Cameron  entered  Scott's  office  quite  abrviptly 
and  betrayed  a  very  unusual  measure  of  excitement 
for  one  of  Cameron's  equable  temperament.  He  came 
up  to  the  table  where  Scott  and  I  were  sitting  and  laid 
down  the  President's  letter.  He  spoke  with  great 
feeling  and  in  a  tremulous  voice,  with  tears  scalding 
his  cheeks,  he  said  that  the  President  certainly  meant 
to  accomplish  his  destruction.  He  said  to  me  that, 
while  we  had  not  been  political  friends,  he  certainly 
would  not  sanction  any  measure  that  meant  my  per- 
sonal destruction,  and  he  confidently  expected  that  I 
would  not  sanction  such  a  measure  against  him. 

Scott,  who  was  wonderfully  fertile  in  invention,  told 
Cameron  to  sit  down  and  talk  the  matter  over.  He 
said  he  knew  that  the  President  did  not  intend  to  offer 
any  personal  affront  to  Cameron,  or  to  destroy  him 
personally  or  politically;  that  Lincoln  had  doubtless 
written  the  letter  in  the  curt  form  it  appeared  simply 


136 


Old  Time  Notes 


because  of  the  terrible  pressure  that  was  upon  him. 
He  proposed  that  Lincoln  should  be  seen  the  next 
morning,  and  he  assured  Cameron  that  Lincoln  would 
permit  Cameron  to  antedate  a  letter  of  resignation  and 
Lincoln  write  a  kind  acceptance.  Scott  saw  the  Presi- 
dent early  the  next  morning,  and  Lincoln  readily- 
agreed  to  Scott's  suggestion,  resulting  in  the  with- 
drawal of  the  original  letter  from  Lincoln  to  Cameron 
and  the  substitution  of  the  correspondence  embracing 
Cameron's  formal  resignation  and  Lincoln's  formal  and 
very  kind  acceptance.  Stanton  had  no  knowledge 
that  he  was  considered  for  the  cabinet  until  he  was 
notified  that  his  nomination  had  been  sent  to  the 
Senate  for  the  Secretaryship  of  War,  nor  did  any  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet  know  of  the  changes  made.  Even 
Chase,  who  delivered  the  letter  to  Cameron,  had  no 
knowledge  of  its  contents. 

It  is  only  just  to  Cameron  to  say  that  when  a  reso- 
lution of  censure  on  his  administration  of  the  War 
Department  was  adopted  by  a  Republican  House, 
President  Lincoln  sent  a  brief  special  message  to  the 
House  stating  that  the  censure  of  Cameron  was  not 
wholly  just,  as  in  many  things  for  which  he  was  cen- 
sured the  President  himself  was  equally  responsible, 
and  a  few  years  later  the  resolution  of  censure  was 
rescinded  by  the  House  and  expunged  from  its  record. 

While  the  relations  between  Cameron  and  Lincoln 
were  somewhat  strained  by  Lincoln's  method  of  retir- 
ing Cameron  from  the  cabinet,  Cameron  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  presented 
in  the  early  part  of  1864  to  throw  himself  into  the 
breach  and  become  the  ostensible  leader  of  the  move- 
ment to  sustain  Lincoln  in  Pennsylvania.  The  action  of 
the  Legislature  that  was  inspired  by  Cameron  brought 
out  a  very  hearty  and  generally  cordial  response  from 
the  Republicans  of  the  State  in  favor  of  Lincoln,  and 


Of  Pennsylvania 


137 


from  that  time  until  the  meeting  of  the  State  con- 
vention there  was  practically  no  Lincoln  issue  in  the 
Republican  politics  of  the  State.  I  was  then  enjoying 
at  home  a  season  of  relief  from  public  care,  and  trying 
to  give  some  attention  to  private  affairs.  My  devo- 
tion to  Lincoln  made  me  desirous  to  go  as  a  delegate 
to  the  National  convention  from  my  ow^n  congressional 
district,  and  I  was  chosen  by  the  unanimous  action 
of  the  different  counties  without  the  formality  of  a 
conference.  A  few  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the 
convention  the  President  telegraphed  me  to  come  to 
Washington,  and,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  at 
that  time  more  than  a  majority  of  all  the  delegates  to 
the  National  convention  were  positively  instructed  for 
him,  without  serious  opposition  to  him  in  any  of  the 
States,  I  was  surprised  to  find  Lincoln  apprehensive 
that  he  might  not  be  renominated.  He  knew  that  a 
considerable  number  of  very  able  men  were  earnestly 
against  him,  and  when  I  told  him  that  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  him  to  be  defeated  with  a  majority  of  the 
delegates  instructed  for  him,  and  nearly  all  of  the 
remainder  pledged  to /him,  his  answer  was:  ''But  I 
don't  forget  that  I  was  nominated  for  President  in  a 
convention  that  was  two-thirds  for  the  other  fellow. ' ' 
He  surprised  me  by  saying  that  he  had  sent  for  me 
for  the  purpose  of  having  me  made  one  of  the  delegates- 
at-large  from  Pennsylvania.  Considering  that  I  was 
already  a  member  of  the  delegation,  in  which  a  man's 
usefulness  was  measured  entirely  by  his  ability  and 
influence  and  not  by  the  distinction  of  a  delegate-at- 
large  over  a  district  delegate,  I  could  not  but  regard 
the  proposition  as  absurd,  besides  being,  as  I  then 
believed  it  to  be,  entirely  impossible.  I  told  the  Presi- 
dent that  I  could  not,  with  any  decency,  appeal  to 
the  State  convention  to  elect  me  a  delegate-at-large 
when  I  was  already  unanimously  chosen  a  delegate  from 


138 


Old  Time  Notes 


my  district ;  but  Lincoln  was  persistent  to  an  extent 
that  I  could  not  understand,  and  I  finally  asked  him 
what  he  meant  b}^-  asking  m.e  to  attempt  so  imgracious 
and,  to  my  mind,  impossible  a  thing.  He  informed  me 
that  he  had  a  letter  from  General  Cameron,  who  said 
he  would  be  a  delegate-at-large  from  Pennsylvania, 
and  he  added  that  while  he  had  no  question  of  Camer- 
on's fidelity,  he  thought  it  most  desirable  that  if  Cam- 
eron was  a  delegate-at-large  I  should  be  one  with  him. 
He  was  most  importunate  on  the  subject,  and  finally 
said:  I  think  you  can  accomplish  it,  and  I  want  you 
to  try. ' '  I  told  him  that  if  opportunity  offered  I 
would  accomplish  it,  but  that  I  had  not  the  remotest 
idea  that  it  was  within  the  range  of  possibility. 

I  knew  enough  of  Lincoln  at  that  time  to  know  that 
he  had  a  settled  purpose  in  view,  but  what  it  was  I 
could  not  conceive,  nor  would  he  explain.  He  knew 
that  my  election  as  delegate-at-large  could  not,  in 
any  way,  influence  the  action  of  Cameron,  but  he  made 
it  a  command  and  I  told  him  that  I  would  see  if  it 
could  be  accomplished.  On  my  return  from  Wash- 
ington I  stopped  over  at  Harrisburg  without  any 
definite  purpose,  and  dropped  in  to  see  George  Berg- 
ner,  who,  while  a  warm  personal  friend  of  mine,  was 
a  devoted  follower  of  Cameron.  Cameron  v/as  anxious 
to  be  a  delegate-at-large  and  could  not  have  been 
defeated,  but  his  great  desire  was  to  be  elected  by  an 
overwhelming  vote,  and  he  knew  that  could  be  accom- 
plished only  by  the  concurrence  of  the  Curtin  people. 
After  a  few  minutes'  conversation  with  Bergner  he 
remarked  that  we  were  now  all  for  Lincoln,  and  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  division  in  the  party  at  the  next 
State  convention;  that  there  was  no  State  ticket  to 
nominate  and  only  electors  and  delegates-at-large 
to  be  chosen.  He  then  broke  the  ice  by  stating  that 
"the  old  man,*'  meaning  Cameron,  wanted  to  be  a 


of  Pennsylvania 


139 


delegate-at-large  and  hoped  there  would  be  harmony 
in  his  selection.  For  the  first  time  I  saw  a  glimpse  of 
an  opening  to  accomplish  what  I  had  been  instructed 
to  do,  and  I  answered  Bergner  by  saying  that  certainly 
there  should  be  no  division  in  the  convention  as  we 
were  all  for  Lincoln  and  that  Cameron  and  Curtin 
should  be  made  delegates-at-large  by  a  unanimous 
vote.  I  knew  that  Cameron  would  object  to  Curtin 
as  they  were  not  on  speaking  terms,  and  Bergner 
promptly  answered  that  *'the  old  man"  and  Curtin 
couldn't  get  along  together,  but  he  added:  "Well 
take  you  and  Cameron. "  I  asked  him  what  assurance 
he  had  that  Cameron  would  assent  to  the  arrangement, 
and  he  informed  me  that  if  I  would  wait  twenty  min- 
utes he  would  see  Cameron  in  person  and  bring  me  his 
assurance.  He  was  delighted,  of  course,  at  the  pros- 
pect of  getting  Cameron  the  support  of  the  Curtin 
element.  He  rushed  around  to  Cameron's  home,  came 
back  in  a  short  time  and  stated  that  every  friend  of 
Cameron  in  the  convention  would  heartily  support 
me.  I  informed  Curtin  of  the  situation  and  he  insisted 
that  the  plan  should  be  carried  out.  The  result  was 
that  Cameron  and  I  were  elected  delegates-at-large 
by  a  practically  unanimous  vote  on  the  first  ballot, 
and  John  Stewart,  my  law  partner,  now  justice  in 
the  supreme  court,  was  chosen  to  fill  the  vacancy  in 
the  district  delegation. 

What  special  purpose  Lincoln  had  in  view  in  urging 
me  to  an  effort  that  only  by  the  merest  accident  could 
be  accomplished,  I  could  not  understand,  but  three 
days  before  the  meeting  of  the  National  convention 
that  was  held  in  Baltimore  in  June,  the  President 
telegraphed  me  to  come  to  Washington ;  and  then  I  dis- 
covered for  the  first  time  his  masterly  political  strategy. 
He  startled  me  by  stating  that  he  desired  m^e  to  stipport 
Andrew  Johnson  for  Vice-President.    I  had  no  par- 


I40 


Old  Time  Notes 


ticular  affection  for  Hamlin,  but  had  not  thought  of 
voting  for  any  other,  and  I  especially  distrusted  John- 
son, whom  I  estimated  as  a  very  able  and  danger- 
ous demagogue.    I  did  not  then  know  that  Cameron 
had  been  taken  into  the  confidence  of  Lincoln  several 
months  before ;  that  Cameron  was  present  when  it  was 
finally  decided  by  Lincoln  to  make  Johnson  the  candi- 
date for  Vice-President,  and  that  Cameron,  at  Lin- 
coln's request,  had  made  a  personal  visit  to  General 
Butler,  then  commanding  the  Army  of  the  James, 
to  confer  with  him  on  the  subject  of  nominating  a 
War  Democrat  such  as  Butler,  Holt,  Dix,  Dickinson  or 
Johnson  for  the  Vice-Presidency.    Cameron  was  accom- 
panied on  that  visit  to  Butler  by  William  H.  Armstrong, 
the  Republican  leader  of  the  House  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war,  later  a  member  of  Congress  and  National 
Commissioner  of  Railways,  and  yet  living  in  Philadel- 
phia. Lincoln  doubtless  knew  that  I  would  readily  accede 
to  his  request  to  vote  for  Johnson,  and  as  the  movement 
I  required  the  severest  discretion,  he  permitted  no  one 
i  of  those  to  whom  he  confided  his  purpose  to  know  of 
I  others  whom  he  had  consulted.    He  knew  that  Cam- 
I  eron  was  for  Johnson  at  the  time  he  insisted  upon  me 
!  becoming  a  delegate-at-large,  and  knowing  that  I 
would  readily  accept  his  advice,  he  logically  argued 
that   with   Cameron   and   myself  delegates-at-large 
representing  the  two  great  factions  of  the  State, 
/  enlisted  in  the  support  of  Johnson,  the  entire  delegation 
'  would  be  certain  to  follow,  and  it  did  follow  precisely 
as  Lincoln  had  planned  it. 

So  cautious  was  Lincoln  in  the  movement  that 
Cameron  did  not  know  of  my  position  on  the  Vice- 
Presidency,  nor  did  I  know  what  Cameron's  was. 
Soon  after  I  reached  Baltimore  to  attend  the  conven- 
tion Cameron  came  to  my  room,  where  the  present 
Judge    Stewart   was   chatting   with   me.  Cameron 


Of  Pennsylvania 


141 


pulled  the  bell,  ordered  a  bottle  of  wine  for  the  room 
and  informed  me  that  he  had  come  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Vice-Presidency.  His  first  proposition 
was  that  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  should  tmite 
and  give  a  complimentary  vote  to  himself,  which  he 
knew  I  would  object  to.  I  told  him  that  we  had  a 
very  important  duty  to  perform  and  that  we  would 
settle  down  at  once,  without  playing  marbles,  to  decide 
what  the  delegation  should  do.  Cameron  said  that  he 
was  very  friendly  to  Hamlin,  but  was  entirely  satis- 
fied that  H^amlin  could  not  be  renominated,  in  which 
I  conciirred.  He  next  stated  that  he  was  inclined  to 
favor  Johnson,  of  Tennessee,  in  which  I  also  concurred. 
He  next  proposed  that,  as  he  was  somewhat  embar- 
rassed by  his  personal  relations  with  Hamlin  in  the 
Senate,  we  should  line  up  both  sides  of  the  delegation, 
cast  a  imanimous  vote  for  Hamlin  when  the  State 
was  called,  and  at  the  end  of  the  roll  call  before  the 
vote  was  computed,  change  the  vote  of  the  State  to  a 
imanimous  vote  for  Johnson,  to  which  I  readily  con- 
curred. Then,  for  the  first  time,  Cameron  knew  that 
I  was  to  support  Johnson,  and  I,  for  the  first  time, 
knew  that  Cameron  was-to  do  the  same .  The  delegation 
lined  up  on  our  programime  to  a  man  on  both  sides, 
with  the  exception  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who  sat  by 
my  side  in  the  delegation  conference.  When  I  voted 
to  have  the  delegation  give  a  solid  support  to  Hamlin 
first  and  next  to  Johnson,  Stevens  turned  his  cold, 
gray  eye  upon  me  with  an  expression  of  profound  con- 
tempt, and  said:  Can't  you  get  a  candidate  for  Vice- 
President  without  going  down  into  a  damned  rebel 
province  for  one?"  Stevens  saw  that  he  stood  alone, 
however,  and  he  permitted  the  vote  of  the  State  to  be 
cast  in  accordance  with  the  programme. 

After  the  death  of  Hamlin,  a  score  or  more  years 
later,  in  an  editorial  review  of  his  life  I  referred  to  the 


142 


Old  Time  Notes 


fact  that  Lincoln  had  accomplished  the  nomination 
of  Johnson  over  him  in  1864,  and  it  was  fiercely  and 
insolently  contradicted  by  Mr.  Nicolay,  who  was  Lin- 
coln's private  secretary,  and  who  gave  the  Associated 
Press  a  statement  that  I  had  misrepresented  Lincoln's 
attitude,  as  Lincoln  was  heartily  in  favor  of  Hamlin's 
renomination.  Quite  a  controversy  ensued,  and  I 
gathered  the  overwhelming  evidence  proving  Lincoln's 
position  and  efforts  entirely  outside  of  my  own  state- 
ment. Mr.  Nicolay  was  a  very  faithful  secretary; 
but  I  never  met  or  heard  of  him  in  consultation  with 
Lincoln  in  any  matter,  political  or  otherwise.  He 
honestly  believed  that  he  knew  what  Lincoln  was 
doing  about  the  Vice-Presidency,  and  as  he  had  stated 
in  his  ''Life  of  Lincoln"  that  Lincoln  was  favorable 
to  the  nomination  of  Hamlin,,  his  sensitiveness  led  him 
to  commit  the  error  of  assuming  and  declaring  that  I 
had  stated  a  palpable  falsehood,  as  it  could  be  no  less 
if  I  was  in  error  in  declaring  that  I  had  voted  for  John- 
son in  obedience  to  Lincoln's  request. 

Most  of  those  who  had  any  inner  knowledge  on  the 
subject  have  passed  away,  but  there  are  yet  enough 
living  in  Pennsylvania  to  fully  establish  the  fact  that 
Lincoln  nominated  Johnson  over  Hamlin  for  Vice- 
President  in  1864,  outside  of  my  own  testimony.  Mr. 
Armstrong  was  with  Cameron  on  his  mission  to  Butler, 
sent  by  Lincoln  to  arrange  for  the  nomination  of  a 
War  Democrat.  Judge  Stewart,  who  succeeded  me  as 
district  delegate,  and  knew  all  that  transpired  at  Balti- 
more, is  also  cognizant  of  the  fact  that  both  Cameron 
and  myself  obeyed  Lincoln  in  the  matter.  Ex-Con- 
gressman J.  Rankin  Young,  still  living  in  Philadelphia, 
some  years  after  the  war  prepared  an  interview  from 
General  Cameron  on  the  subject  that  was  carefully 
revised  by  Cameron  himself,  and  published  in  the 
New  York  "Herald,"  telling  how  he  had  co-operated 


Of  Pennsylvania 


143 


with  Lincoln  in  tliQ  early  part  of  the  year  in  a  move- 
ment for  the  nomination  of  Johnson. 

Lincoln  was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving 
the  full  vote  of  every  State  but  Missouri,  whose  dele- 
gation was  instructed  for  Grant,  but  it  promptly 
changed  to  Lincoln  before  the  vote  was  annoxmced, 
making  his  nomination  iinanimous.  On  the  roll  call 
for  Vice-President,  Johnson  received  200  votes,  Ham- 
lin 150,  Dickinson  108,  with  61  scattering;  but  before 
the  vote  was  announced  Pennsylvania  changed  from 
Hamlin  to  Johnson  and  other  changes  followed  rapidly, 
making  the  final  announcement  of  the  first  ballot  494 
for  Johnson,  17  for  Dickinson  and  9  for  Hamlin. 

Lincoln  was  not  influenced  by  prejudice  or  resent- 
ment in  opposing  the  nomination  of  Hamlin.  The 
reasons  he  gave  me  in  support  of  the  nomination  of 
Johnson  were  so  logical  and  conclusive  that  I  would 
have  voted  for  Johnson  as  a  matter  of  duty  to  the  party 
and  to  the  couatry,  regardless  of  my  willingness  to 
accede  to  the  wishes  of  the  President.  They  were: 
First,  that  the  nomination  and  election  of  a  Vice-Presi- 
dent from  a  reconstructed  State  in  the  heart  of  the 
Confederacy,  who  was  a  distinctly  representative  man, 
and  had  filled  every  office  in  the  gift  of  the  State, 
would  add  more  strength  to  the  friends  of  the  Union 
in  England  and  France,  who  were  strnggling  against 
the  recognition  of  the  Confederacy,  than  could  be 
accomplished  in  any  other  way,  save  by  the  complete 
overthrow  of  the  Confederate  military  power.  Second, 
the  strong  political  necessity  for  nominating  a  distinc- 
tive War  Democrat  not  then  connected  with  the 
Republican  party,  to  bring  to  the  support  of  the 
administration  the  many  thousands  of  War  Demo- 
crats who  were  followers  of  men  like  Johnson,  Dickin- 
son, Butler,  Dix,  Holt  and  others;  and,  third,  the  nomi- 
nation of  Johnson,  would  desectionalize  the  Republican 


144 


Old  Time  Notes 


party.  Recognition  of  the  Confederacy  was  yet  a 
fearful  peril  to  the  Union  cause,  and  the  nomination 
of  Johnson  demonstrated  that  substantial  progress 
was  being  made  in  the  restoration  of  the  Union  by  the 
accomplished  reconstruction  of  the  State  in  the  inner 
circle  of  rebellion. 

The  convention  met  in  Baltimore  on  the  7th  of  June, 
and  I  never  saw  a  more  hearty  welcome  given  to  any 
man  in  a  public  assembly  than  was  given  the  Rev. 
Robert  J.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  when  he  was 
made  temporary  president  of  the  body.  It  was  a 
brave  act  for  any  man  from  the  South  to  confess  him- 
self a  Republican,  but  when  a  man  of  the  high  char- 
acter and  intellectual  and  moral  attitude  of  Dr.  Breck- 
enridge took  the  chair  in  the  Republican  National  con- 
vention, it  gave  courage  and  hope  to  scores  of  thou- 
sands in  the  Southern  States.  Governor  Dennison, 
of  Ohio,  was  made  permanent  president,  but  the  con- 
trolling mind  of  the  convention  was  that  of  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  who  acted  in  closest  confidence  with  Lin- 
coln. He  not  only  withdrew  his  State  from  the  support 
of  Hamlin,  but  was  compelled  to  sacrifice  Dickinson, 
another  War  Democrat,  whose  friends  felt  that  he 
should  be  preferred  to  Johnson.  He  wrote  the  plat- 
form, became  chairman  of  the  National  committee, 
wrote  the  campaign  life  of  Lincoln,  and  he  was,  in 
fact,  the  "leader  of  leaders"  of  that  great  contest. 

There  were  many  inharmonious  elements  in  the  con- 
vention. All  felt  that  we  were  then  approaching  the 
period  when  the  military  power  of  the  Confederacy 
would  be  overthrown,  and  the  grave  problem  of  recon- 
struction would  be  presented  for  solution.  On  that 
question  there  could  have  been  no  common  ground  of 
agreement  in  the  National  convention  of  1864.  There 
were  many  who,  like  Stevens,  demanded  the  severest 
punishment  of  the  officials  who  engaged  in  rebellion, 


of  Pennsylvania 


145 


the  confiscation  of  their  property,  and  the  absolute 
denial  of  citizenship,  while  a  majority  were  in  favor 
of  various  shades  of  generous  methods  to  accomplish 
reconciliation  and  reimion.  While  there  was  a  general 
feeling  of  confidence  in  the  re-election  of  Lincoln,  the 
more  intelligent  of  the  leaders  knew  that  they  had  a 
severe  battle  before  them  and  most  careful  methods 
were  developed  to  guard  against  disaster  in  November. 

It  was  known  that  General  McClellan  would  be  the 
opposing  candidate;  that  he  had  many  sincere  sup- 
porters in  the  army  and  that  the  conservative  elements 
of  the  country  had  absolute  confidence  in  him,  while 
all  the  shades  of  the  entire  anti-war  elements  would  be 
certain  to  support  any  candidate  nominated  by  the 
Democrats.  The  Republican  leaders  did  not  asstime 
that  their  victory  was  assured,  and  many  grave  con- 
ferences were  held  on  the  various  subjects  which  might 
have  a  bearing  on  the  conflict.  It  was  a  convention 
of  great  force,  and  it  was  most  judiciously  guided 
by  wise  leadership  to  place  the  party  in  the  best  atti- 
tude for  a  desperate  conflict.  The  student  of  to-day, 
who  looks  over  the  history  of  that  campaign,  will 
naturally  assume  that  Lincoln  was  re-elected  without 
a  struggle,  as  the  vote  appears  to  be  overwhelming; 
but  all  who  were  at  the  Baltimore  convention,  and  all 
who  actively  participated  in  the  struggle,  will  remem- 
ber the  gloom  that  hung  over  the  Republican  party 
during  the  summer  months,  and  how  triumph  was 
finally  decided  by  the  victories  of  Sherman  in  Atlanta 
and  Sheridan  in  the  Valley. 


146 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXV. 

LINCOLN  RE-ELECTED  PRESIDENT. 

Pennsylvania  Republicans  Heartily  United  in  Support  of  Lincoln — Cam- 
eron Made  Chairman  of  the  State  Committee — Severe  Republican 
Depression  During  the  Summer  of  1864  Because  of  the  Failure  to 
Achieve  Victory  in  the  Field — Lincoln  Predicts  His  Own  Defeat  on 
the  Twenty-third  of  August  in  a  Note  Sealed  and  Delivered  to  Sec- 
retary Welles — Pennsylvania  Faltered  in  Her  Republicanism  at  the 
October  Election — The  Author  Called  to  Co-operate  with  Cameron 
in  the  November  Battle — How  Pennsylvania  Was  Made  to  Vote  for 
Lincoln  on  the  Home  Vote. 

WHEN  the  Republican  State  convention  met  at 
Harrisburg  in  the  early  spring  of  1864  there 
was  a  very  general  feeling  of  confidence  that 
the  Republicans  would  have  little  more  than  a  picnic 
in  the  struggle  for  the  Pennsylvania  Presidential  elec- 
tors. Curtin  had  carried  the  State  the  year  before  by 
over  15,000,  with  75,000  soldiers  disfranchised  in  the 
field,  and  as  the  army  vote  was  certain  to  be  added  in 
1864,  by  a  special  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  the 
State  was  accepted  as  anchored  in  the  Republican 
column  without  any  special  effort.  I  was  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention  and  had  no  thought  of  being  in 
any  way  responsibly  involved  in  the  contest,  as  I 
shared  the  belief  that  the  State  was  entirely  safe  for 
Lincoln.  Entirely  without  my  knowledge,  a  paper 
was  prepared  by  some  members  of  the  convention 
asking  the  president  of  the  body  to  appoint  me  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  committee,  and  it  was 
signed  by  two-thirds  or  more  of  the  delegates.  There 
were  no  State  offices  to  fill  that  year,  and  the  selection 
of  the  chaiiTnan  of  the  State  committee  naturally 


of  Pennsylvania 


147 


devolved  upon  the  president  of  the  convention.  The 
paper  was  presented  to  the  chair  by  Representative 
Oknsted,  since  senator  and  president  judge  of  the 
Potter  district. 

George  V.  Lawrence,  who  had  served  in  the  house 
and  two  terms  in  the  senate,  was  president  of  the  con- 
vention and  a  close  friend  of  Cameron.  He  received 
the  paper  and  announced  that  it  would  be  given  due 
consideration.  When  I  was  advised  of  the  movement 
I  refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  struggle  for  the  place, 
as  every  consideration  of  personal  interest  made  it 
undesirable.  Lawrence  held  the  matter  ostensibly 
iinder  advisement  a  few  days,  and  then  announced  the 
appointment  of  General  Cameron  to  the  position.  No 
man  in  the  State  was  better  equipped  for  the  manage- 
ment of  a  campaign  than  was  Cameron,  and  as  there 
were  no  factional  divisions  in  the  State,  with  only 
National  candidates  and  interests  before  the  party, 
there  was  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  Curtin's  friends 
to  complain  of  the  appointment.  Cameron  saw  what 
he  believed  to  be  an  opportunity  to  achieve  a  great 
victory  for  the  party  without  any  serious  effort  or  sac- 
rifice on  his  own  part,  and  he  committed  the  error  of 
assuming  that  the  campaign  would  manage  itself  and 
gave  little  thought  or  labor  to  the  important  task  he 
had  accepted. 

When  Lincoln  was  renominated  in  June  the  Republi- 
can leaders  had  just  begun  to  realize  that  they  might 
have  a  desperate  contest  before  them,  as  Grant  had 
fought  desperate  battles  with  fearful  sacrifice  of  men 
without  attaining  any  material  victories,  and  Sherman 
was  struggling  with  Johnson  in  the  Atlanta  campaign, 
and  grave  apprehensions  were  felt  that  as  he  approached 
Atlanta  and  lengthened  his  line,  and  necessarily  weak- 
ened his  forces,  he  might  fail  in  his  movement  for  the 
capture  of  the  city  that  was  the  gateway  of  the  Con- 


148 


Old  Time  Notes 


federacy.  Nor  did  political  conditions  improve  during 
the  Slimmer  months,  and  I  well  remember  that  diiring 
August  the  gravest  apprehensions  were  cherished  by 
the  Republican  leaders  as  to  the  National  verdict,  but 
none  had  any  doubt  about  Republican  success  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Lincoln,  who  was  a  close  observer  of  the 
campaign,  finally  became  discouraged  to  the  verge  of 
despair.  On  the  23d  of  August  he  wrote  the  following 
memorandum : 

"This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  ex- 
ceedingly probable  that  this  administration  will  not  be 
re-elected.  Then  it  will  be  my  duty  to  co-operate  with 
the  President-elect  so  as  to  save  the  Union  between 
the  election  and  the  inauguration,  as  he  will  have 
secured  his  election  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot 
possibly  save  it  afterward." 

Lincoln  sealed  this  paper  and  delivered  it  to  Secre- 
tary Welles,  with  notice  that  it  was  to  be  opened  only 
when  the  result  of  the  election  was  known.  I  saw  him 
about  the  middle  of  the  same  month  and  he  was  greatly 
depressed.  He  was  human,  as  are  all  men,  differing 
only  in  degree,  and  was  naturally  most  solicitous  for 
re-election  to  the  highest  civil  trust  of  the  world,  but 
I  believe  that  his  anxiety  for  success  in  the  contest  was 
even  greater  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  than  for 
a  mere  individual  triumph.  It  was  then  that  he  first 
startled  me  with  the  proposition  to  pay  $400,000,000 
to  the  South  as  compensation  for  their  slaves  if  they 
would  accept  emancipation  and  return  to  the  Union. 
Of  course,  the  suggestion  was  made  in  the  strictest  con- 
fidence, because  if  it  had  been  made  public  in  the  then 
high- water  mark  of  sectional  and  partisan  passion,  even 
Vermont  and  Massachusetts  might  have  been  made 
doubtful ;  but  his  reasons  in  support  of  the  proposition 
were  absolutely  unanswerable.  He  said  that  the  war 
was  then  costing  about  $4,000,000  a  day;  that  none 


Of  Pennsylvania 


149 


could  hope  to  close  it  by  battle  within  the  next  htin- 
dred  days  during  which  period  the  war  itself  would  cost 
the  full  sum  he  proposed  for  compensated  emancipa- 
tion. He  did  not  doubt  that  the  military  power  of  the 
Confederacy  would  be  broken,  but  he  feared  that  with 
the  generally  impoverished  condition  of  the  South  the 
Confederate  soldiers  would  not  return  to  their  deso- 
lated fields  and  breadless  homes,  but  would  precipitate 
anarchy  in  that  section.  After  his  election  and  after 
his  conference  with  Confederate  Vice-President  Ste- 
phens, he  prepared  a  message  to  Congress  urging  that 
$400,000,000  be  offered  to  the  South  for  compensation 
if  emancipation  and  reunion  were  accepted.  He  read 
it  to  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  by  whom  it  was  nearly 
or  quite  unanimously  disapproved,  and  Lincoln  folded 
the  paper  and  endorsed  on  the  back  of  it  that  it  had 
been  presented  to  the  cabinet  and  disapproved. 

The  burning  of  Chambersburg  on  the  30th  of  July, 
by  General  McCausland's  force,  precipitated  new  con- 
ditions in  my  section  of  the  State.  Most  of  the  resi- 
dents in  the  town  were  entirely  homeless  and  business 
was  suspended.  An  extra  session  of  the  Legislature 
was  promptly  called  by  Governor  Curtin  and  $100,000 
appropriated  that  was  apportioned  among  the  most 
needy.  While  nearly  all  the  property  destroyed  was 
insured,  the  insurance  was  lost,  as  the  destruction  was 
caused  by  a  public  enemy.  The  people  of  Chambers- 
burg were,  therefore,  largely  without  capital  or  credit 
to  resume  their  varied  occupations,  and  despair  very 
generally  prevailed  in  all  business  and  industrial  circles. 

J.  McDowell  Sharpe,  the  leading  Democratic  member 
of  the  Chambersburg  bar,  was  then  a  member  of  the 
house,  and  after  various  conferences  on  the  subject,  it 
was  decided  that  I  should  accept  the  Republican  nomi- 
nation for  the  house,  with  the  general  expectation  that 
both  of  us  would  be  elected,  to  have  an  active  Demo- 


Old  Time  Notes 


crat  and  Republican  in  the  next  Legislature  to  secure 
a  liberal  appropriation  from  the  State.  The  district 
was  coraposed  of  Franklin  and  Perry  counties,  and  a 
Democrat  and  Republican  were  nominated  in  each 
county.  The  district  was  naturally  Democratic  and 
the  people  of  the  smaller  county  of  Perry  were  not 
greatly  enthused  by  the  undeclared  but  generally  well 
understood  purpose  that  Franklin  would  elect  both 
the  members  of  the  house.  It  was  a  demand  that  I 
could  not  hesitate  to  obey,  and  as  the  National  battle 
could  be  well  fought  between  the  October  and  Novem- 
ber elections,  I  remained  at  home  and  devoted  my 
entire  time  to  the  care  of  the  stiffering  people  of  the 
town  and  to  the  contest  in  the  district;  but  I  was  in 
constant  communication  with  the  leading  men  of  the 
State,  and  before  the  October  election  I  was  well  con- 
vinced that  there  was  danger  of  the  State  being  close 
or  lost  in  October.  Three  weeks  before  the  election  I 
was  in  Washington  and  gave  the  President  a  statement 
of  the  unfavorable  condition,  and  urged  him  to  have 
Cam.eron  appreciate  the  peril  and  make  an  aggressive 
campaign.  He  conferred  with  Cameron  on  the  subject 
and  Cameron  assured  him  that  the  State  would  be 
Republican  by  a  large  majority.  The  result  was  prac- 
tically a  Republican  disaster.  There  were  no  State 
officers  to  lose,  but  a  number  of  Republican  Congress- 
men fell  in  the  race  who  should  have  been  successful. 
Sharpe  and  I  were  elected  by  the  common  interest  felt 
by  both  parties  in  Chambersburg  and  generally  through- 
out the  county  in  favor  of  State  aid  to  those  who  suf- 
fered from  the  destruction  of  the  town,  and  the  Repub- 
lican Congressmen  in  several  districts  were  saved  only 
by  the  army  vote. 

The  Presidential  contest  in  Pennsylvania  in  1864 
presented  some  peculiar  features  which  gave  the  Demo- 
crats positive  advantage.    McClellan  was  not  only 


Of  Pennsylvania 


the  choice  of  the  Democrats  for  the  Presidency,  but 
they  were  generally  and  enthusiastically  earnest  in  his 
support  and  hopeful  of  his  election.  He  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  strong  appeals  were  made  not 
only  to  Pennsylvania  pride,  but  to  the  soldiers  of  the 
State,  most  of  whom  held  McClellan  in  high  respect. 
The  Democrats  had  delayed  their  nomination  of  a 
National  ticket  until  the  29th  of  August,  when  they 
assembled  at  Chicago,  and  they  were  most  unfortunate 
in  not  having  delayed  their  convention  at  least  a  week 
longer.  When  Horatio  Seymour  arose  as  presiding 
officer  to  call  that  convention  to  order,  he  addressed 
one  of  the  ablest  representative  political  bodies  that 
ever  met  in  the  country,  and  every  member  was  entirely 
confident  of  the  success  of  their  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent. The  campaigns  of  Grant  and  Sherman  up  to 
that  time  had  brought  nothing  in  return  but  reports  of 
desperate  battles  and  appalling  sacrifice,  and  the  feeling 
was  very  general  among  Democrats  and  largely  shared 
by  Republicans  that  the  Union  could  not  be  restored 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

It  was  this  political  condition  of  fore-shadowed 
Republican  disaster  that  Lincoln  recorded  in  the 
private  memorandum,  only  a  week  before  the  convention 
met,  that  made  the  Democratic  National  convention 
commit  the  fatal  error  of  declaring  the  war  a  failure 
and  demanding  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  The  text 
of  that  portion  of  the  platform  was  as  follows: 

That  after  four  years  of  failure  to  restore  the  Union 
by  the  experiment  of  war,  during  which,  under  the  pre- 
tense of  military  necessity  or  war-power  higher  than, 
the  Constitution,  the  Constitution  itself  has  been  dis- 
regarded in  every  part  and  public  liberty  and  private 
right  alike  trodden  down,  and  the  material  prosperity 
of  the  country  essentially  impaired — justice,  htimanity, 
liberty  and  the  public  welfare  demand  that  immediate 


Old  Time  Notes 


efforts  be  made  for  a  cessation  of  hostilities  with  a  view 
to  an  vdtimate  convention  of  the  States,  or  other  peace- 
able means,  to  the  end  that,  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment,  peace  may  be  restored  on  the  basis  of  the  Fed- 
eral imion  of  the  States." 

That  momentous  declaration  at  the  time  of  its  de- 
liverance honestly  reflected  the  views  of  nearly  the 
entire  Democratic  people  of  the  country,  and  very 
many  Republicans  were  profoimdly  apprehensive  that 
the  declaration  was  only  too  true,  but  just  when  the 
convention  had  concluded  its  labors,  the  trained  light- 
ning flashed  the  news  to  Washington  from  Sherman 
saying:  "Atlanta  is  ours,  and  fairly  won."  The  loyal 
sentiment  of  the  country  was  at  once  inspired,  and  the 
Democrats'  delegates  returning  to  their  homes  found 
every  center  of  population  illuminated  at  night  and 
full  of  waving  flags  by  day,  as  the  people  hurled  back 
upon  them  their  fierce  resentment  at  the  declaration 
of  the  failure  of  the  war  and  at  the  demand  for  peace  by 
compromise  with  rebellion.  Sherman's  victory  at 
Atlanta  was  supplemented  by  Sheridan's  victories  in 
the  Valley,  and  Sherman  and  Sheridan,  and  they  alone, 
were  the  great  campaigners  who  gave  victory  to  Lin- 
coln and  to  the  Republican  party  in  the  great  struggle 
of  1864. 

On  the  morning  after  the  October  election  the  Presi- 
dent telegraphed  me  to  come  to  Washington,  as  the 
result  in  the  State  was  humiliating  in  the  extreme, 
when  Ohio  and  Indiana,  the  other  October  States,  had 
large  Republican  majorities.  As  my  personal  contest 
for  the  Legislature  was  ended,  Lincoln  asked  me  to  join 
Cameron  and  co-operate  with  him  in  getting  the  State 
into  position  for  the  November  election.  He  realized 
the  fact  that  the  friends  of  McClellan  were  greatly  en- 
couraged, and  entirely  confident  that  they  would  give 
the  electoral  vote  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  one  they 


Of  Pennsylvania 


153 


esteemed  as  Pennsylvania's  great  soldier.  I  reminded 
Lincoln  that  I  could  not  maks  such  a  proposition  to 
Cameron,  but  that  if  Cameron  desired  it,  I  would  be 
very  glad  to  join  him  and  give  my  entire  time  to  the 
struggle.  The  day  after  my  return  home  I  received  a 
letter  from  Cameron  requesting  me  to  join  him,  that 
had  evidently  been  inspired  by  Lincoln  himself,  and  I 
hastened  to  Cameron's  headquarters  at  the  Girard 
House,  in  Philadelphia,  where  I  found  Wayne  Mac- 
Veagh,  who  had  been  Republican  chairman  the  year 
before,  and  had  also  been  sent  for  by  Cameron,  and 
whose  political  relations  at  that  time  with  Cameron 
were  about  the  same  as  my  own. 

Cameron  was  greatly  distressed  as  he  realized  that 
he  was  to  blame  for  having  assimied  that  the  battle 
would  win  itself.  An  address  to  the  people  of  the 
State,  that  was  written  chiefly  by  MacVeagh,  was  signed 
by  Cameron  and  sent  out  before  the  first  conference 
ended,  and  I  informed  Cameron  that  I  would  remain  in 
the  city  imtil  the  election  and  would  be  subject  to  his 
orders  at  any  time  to  aid  him  in  the  contest.  I  took  a 
room  at  the  Continental,  as  it  was  necessary  that 
everything  should  be  done  in  open  and  frank  recogni- 
ton  of  Cameron  as  the  head  of  the  organization,  and  I 
advised  Lincoln  every  night  by  letter  of  any  changes 
in  the  situation.  His  election  was  not  at  that  time  in 
any  degree  doubtful,  but  the  two  most  important 
States  of  the  Union  were  admittedly  trembling  in  the 
balance.  New  York  had  Seymour  as  Governor,  and 
was  so  desperately  contested  by  the  Democrats  that 
Lincoln  carried  the  State  only  by  6,000  majority  in  a 
vote  of  1,000,000.  There  was  a  reasonable  possibility 
that  McClellan  might  carry  both  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  and  although  he  could  not  even  then  ap- 
proach an  election,  the  failure  of  the  two  greatest  of 
the  Northern  States  to  sustain  the  administration 


Old  Time  Notes 


would  have  seriously  weakened  the  power  of  Lincoln 
in  prosecuting  the  war  and  attaining  peace. 

It  was  of  the  utmost  moment,  therefore,  that  Penn- 
sylvania should  be  saved  and  by  the  home  vote,  as  the 
vote  in  the  army  would  be  decried  as  a  bayonet  vote 
and  would  not  carry  the  moral  effect  of  a  victory  at- 
tained independently  of  the  army.  It  was  an  absolute 
necessit}^,  alike  in  the  interest  of  war  and  peace,  that 
Lincoln  should  carry  Penns3dvania  on  the  home  vote 
as  New  York  was  considered  more  than  doubtful.  So 
anxious  was  Lincoln  about  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania 
that  he  sent  Postmaster  General  Dennison  to  see  me 
privately  at  the  Continental  and  go  over  the  situation. 
He  came  and  spent  several  hours  with  me  and  then 
returned  to  Washington  the  same  night,  without  hav- 
ing seen  any  other  person  in  the  city.  Abundant  means 
had  been  supplied  to  Cameron  to  organize  the  party  in 
view  of  the  adverse  current  presented,  and  he  doubtless 
made  the  best  possible  use  of  it,  but  I  had  to  tell  Denni- 
son that  I  saw  no  perceptible  advantage  that  had  been 
gained,  as  the  Democrats  were  as  earnest  and  active  as 
we  were,  and  had  concentrated  all  their  efforts  to  carry 
Pennsylvania  for  McClellan.  I  told  him  to  say  to  the 
President  that  if  matters  did  not  materially  improve 
in  the  next  few  days,  I  would  visit  him  in  Washington 
to  confer  on  the  subject. 

Two  days  thereafter  I  telegraphed  the  President  that 
I  would  see  him  that  evening,  and  reached  the  White 
House  about  nine  o'clock.  I  told  him  that  I  saw  no 
reasonable  prospect  of  carrying  the  State  on  the  home 
vote.  While  the  ami};-  vote  would  be  reasonably  cer- 
tain to  give  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State  to  Lincoln, 
the  moral  force  of  the  victory  would  be  seriously  im- 
paired. Lincoln  was  greatly  distressed.  He  then 
expected  to  lose  New  York,  and  he  felt  that  if  Pennsyl- 
vania's home  vote  was  in  his  favor,  the  power  of  his 


of  Pennsylvania 


155 


administration  would  not  be  seriously  impaired  even 
with  New  York  adverse  to  him.  I  told  him  that  Penn- 
sylvania could  be  saved  by  the  home  vote  if  he  was 
prepared  to  do  it,  and  that  he  could  do  it  without  any 
serious  interference  with  army  movements.  By  fur- 
loughing  5,000  Pennsylvania  soldiers  home  from  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  then  besieging  Petersburg,  and 
5,000  soldiers  from  Sheridan's  forces  in  the  Valley, 
where  fighting  had  been  ended  by  the  repeated  defeats 
of  Earley,  he  would  be  certain  to  have  a  home  majority 
in  the  State.  I  knew  that  he  had  saved  Grant  when 
Congress  and  the  country  demanded  that  Grant  should 
be  crucified  for  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  and  suggested  to 
him  that  of  course  Grant  would  be  glad  to  furlough 
the  soldiers  upon  any  expression  of  the  President's  that 
he  diesired  it  done,  but  Lincoln,  for  some  reason,  hesi- 
tated to  make  such  a  communication  to  Grant.  I  then 
said  to  him  that  Meade  was  commander  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  and  that  he 
certainly  could  send  an  order  to  him  with  the  request 
that  it  be  returned,  and  that  the  order  would  be  obeyed. 
He  did  send  a  subordinate  of  the  War  Department  that 
night  to  General  Meade,  who  furloughed  the  5,000 
Pennsylvania  soldiers  home  for  the  election,  and  per- 
mitted the  order  to  be  returned  to  the  President.  I 
asked  him  how  it  was  with  Sheridan,  and  Lincoln *s 
face  brightened  up  at  once  as  he  said:  ''Oh,  Phil,  he's 
all  right."  A  like  order  went  to  Sheridan  and  5,000  or 
more  of  his  Pennsylvania  soldiers  came  home  to  vote. 
The  result  was  that  Lincoln  carried  the  State  by  5,712 
majority  on  the  home  vote,  and  that,  with  over  14,000 
majority  in  the  army,  gave  him  the  State  by  over 
20,000. 

Never  was  a  State  more  earnestly  contested  than  was 
Pennsylvania  between  the  October  and  November 
elections,  in  1864.    McClellan  was  personally  popular, 


Old  Time  Notes 


was  a  man  of  the  loveliest  attributes  and  was  univer- 
sally respected  and  generally  beloved  by  all  who  knew 
him,  while  a  large  portion  of  the  Democrats  regarded 
him  as  the  ideal  soldier  of  the  war.  But  for  one  grave 
political  error  that  he  committed  the  year  before  in  the 
Curtin- Woodward  campaign  for  Governor,  I  doubt 
whether  he  could  have  been  defeated  in  the  State  by 
the  home  vote.  Curtin  had  been  his  sincere  friend, 
stood  by  him  long  after  most  of  the  Republicans  had 
deserted  him,  and  he  had  made  earnest  effort  to  have 
McClellan  restored  to  the  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  when  it  was  marching  to  Gettysburg,  in 
which  the  leading  business  men  of  Philadelphia  actively 
joined. 

McClellan  was  then  at  his  home  in  Orange,  New 
Jersey,  awaiting  orders  where  he  had  been  since  he  was 
relieved  from  the  command  of  the  army  in  the  fall  of 
1862.  He  was  doubtless  sorely  pressed  to  make  a 
declaration  in  favor  of  Woodward  and  against  Curtin, 
and  he  hesitated  long  about  acceding  to  the  demand, 
but  finally,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election  of  1863,  he 
wrote  to  a  prominent  Democrat  in  Pennsylvania  for 
publication  a  brief  letter  urging  the  election  of  Wood- 
ward. That  certainly  lost  him  more  than  enough  votes 
in  the  State  to  have  given  him  the  home  majority. 
McClellan  was  then  in  politics  without  political  train- 
ing, and  his  judgment  and  inclinations  wer^  overruled 
when  he  gave  the  deliverance  against  Curtin.  Grant, 
who  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  army  and  owed  his 
position  entirely  to  Lincoln,  was  severely  discreet,  and 
never  gave  an  utterance  during  the  contest  bearing  in 
any  degree  on  the  Presidential  issue,  but  when  Lincoln 
was  re-elected  he  promptly  sent  him  a  generous  con- 
gratulation. Lincoln  was  somewhat  grieved  at  Grant 
because  he  had  given  no  utterance  at  all  during  the  con- 
test, and  that  was  his  reason  for  not  sending  to  Grant 


Of  Pennsylvania 


157 


his  order  or  request  for  the  furlough  of  Pennsylvania 
troops  at  the  October  election. 

I  was  much  prejudiced  against  Grant  when  I  found 
that  Lincoln  was  unwilling  to  communicate  his  wishes 
to  Grant  while  he  did  communicate  with  Meade. 
Some  time  after  Grant's  retirement  from  the  Presidency 
I  lunched  with  him  at  the  invitation  of  Mr.  Drexel  and 
Mr.  Childs,  at  Mr.  Drexel's  office,  and  in  the  course  of 
conversation  I  led  him  back  to  that  conflict  and  re- 
ferred to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  discreetly  silent. 
Grant's  answer,  which  was  doubtless  the  honest  truth, 
was  that  he  certainly  could  not  inject  himself  into  a 
political  contest  between  the  President,  who  had 
assigned  him  to  the  command  of  the  army,  and  the 
general  whom  he  had  succeeded  in  the  army.  There 
never  was  a  candidate  nominated  for  President  by  so 
enthusiastic  and  confident  a  party  as  that  which  nomi- 
nated McClellan  in  Chicago,  in  1864,  who  finally  fell  in 
such  overwhelming  and  humiliating  defeat,  with  a 
popular  majority  against  him  of  nearly  half  a  million, 
and  receiving  only  twenty-one  of  the  233  electoral 
votes,  from  the  States  of  Delaware,  Kentucky  and  New 
Jersey. 


158 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXVI. 

THE  BURNING  OF  CHAMBERSBURG. 

Chambersburg  Destroyed  by  the  Brutal  Vandalism  of  Hunter  in  the 
Lynchburg  Campaign — Its  Destruction  Made  Possible  by  Hunter's 
Military  Incompetency — Reports  of  McCausland's  Movement  from 
Mercersburg  to  Chambersburg — The  Vandalism  of  Many  Intoxicated 
Confederates  While  the  Town  Was  Burning — A  Heroic  Woman  Saves 
One  of  the  Author's  Houses  and  Barn — Chambersburg  Could  Have 
Been  Fully  Protected  by  the  State  Force  Organized  by  Governor 
Curtin,  but  It  Was  Sent  to  the  Potomac  to  Save  Hunter. 

NEXT  to  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  the  echoes 
of  the  most  thrilling  event  of  the  Civil  War 
in  the  North  come  from  the  burning  of  Cham- 
bersburg on  the  30th  of  July,  1864,  by  a  Confederate 
cavalry  force  under  the  command  of  General  McCaus- 
land,  and  it  is  only  in  vindication  of  the  truth  of  his- 
tory that  I  state  that  the  destruction  of  Chambersburg 
was  chiefly,  or  wholly,  provoked  by  the  brutal  vandal- 
ism of  General  Hunter  in  the  Lynchburg  campaign, 
and  its  execution  was  made  possible  by  his  military 
incompetency. 

Hunter  succeeded  Sigel  in  command  of  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  in  the  spring  of  1864,  and  was  ordered 
by  General  Grant,  then  battling  with  Lee  south  of 
Spottsylvania,  to  advance  upon  Lynchburg  and  destroy 
the  enemy's  lines  of  communication  and  resources  at 
that  point.  On  the  5th  of  June  General  Hu.nter  met 
a  comparatively  small  force  of  the  enemy  at  Piedmont, 
and  defeated  it,  and  after  its  retreat  he  formed  a  junc- 
tion with  Crook  and  Averill  at  Staunton  and  marched 
toward  Lynchburg  by  way  of  Lexington,  where  he 
arrived  on  the  loth.    Hunter  lost  his  opportunity  to 


Of  Pennsylvania 


159 


capture  Lynchburg  by  his  delay  at  Lexington,  where 
he  was  guilty  of  many  brutal  acts  of  vandalism,  such 
as  the  burning  of  the  private  residence  of  Governor 
Letcher,  the  Military  Institute,  and  taking  away  or 
destroying  memorable  statues  connected  with  the 
university  founded  by  Washing-ton  and  bearing  his 
name.  When  Hunter  arrived  in  front  of  Lynchburg, 
he  found  that  General  Earley  had  been  ordered  by 
Lee  to  make  a  forced  march  to  meet  him,  and  Earley 
occupied  a  position  of  such  strength  that  Hunter 
declined  to  give  battle.  He  explained  that  his  failure 
to  engage  Earley  for  the  capture  of  Lynchburg  was  his 
want  of  adequate  ammunition,  but  if  the  statement 
is  to  be  accepted  as  the  true  one,  it  simply  proved  the 
incompetency  of  a  commander  going  into  an  enemy's 
cotintry,  so  far  from  his  base,  with  an  army  helpless 
for  want  of  ammunition. 

Hiinter  retreated  along  the  Gauley  and  Kanawha 
Rivers  to  the  Ohio,  and  returned  to  his  base  at  Harper's 
Ferry  by  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  His  circu- 
itous retreat  uncovered  the  valley,  and  enabled  Earley 
not  only  to  take  possession  of  it,  but  to  advance  upon 
Washington,  defeat  General  Lew  Wallace  at  the  Mon- 
ocacy  on  the  gth  of  July,  and  compelled  Grant  to  send 
W^right's  corps  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  save 
the  Capital.  When  Earley  reached  the  outer  defenses 
of  Washington  he  found  that  General  Wright  was 
there  with  his  corps,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  miake  a  hopeful  assault  upon  the  Capital.  He 
hastily  fell  back  and  reached  Martinsburg  with  a  vast 
train  of  stipplies  that  had  been  gathered  in  his  march. 
Hunter  had  arrived  from  the  West  when  Earley  reached 
Martinsburg,  and  he  crossed  the  river  and  gave  battle 
to  Earley,  but  was  defeated  and  compelled  to  recross 
the  river  and  place  his  command  in  a  defensive  posi- 
tion between  Hancock  and  Harper's  Ferry.  General 


i6o 


Old  Time  Notes 


McCausland's  cavalry  brigade  was  on  Earley^s  left, 
and  General  Averill's  Union  cavalry  brigade  on  Hun- 
ter's right. 

On  the  28th  of  July  General  Earley  directed  McCaus- 
land  to  take  his  own  mounted  brigade  and  the  cavalry 
brigade  of  General  Bradley  T.  Johnson,  numbering 
in  all  nearly  3,000  men,  and  proceed  to  Chambersburg, 
where  he  was  ordered  to  levy  a  tribute  of  $100,000  in 
gold  or  $500,000  in  United  States  currency,  and  to 
bum  the  town  if  the  requisition  was  not  responded  to. 
On  the  29th  McCausland  crossed  the  Potomac  at 
Cherry  Run  and  McCoy's  Ford,  and  advanced  by  way 
of  Clear  Springs  and  Mercersburg  upon  Chambersburg. 
The  people  of  the  town  were  advised  by  telegrams 
from  Mercersburg  of  the  advance  of  McCausland's 
command,  and  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion 
ensued.  The  money  in  banks  and  as  much  of  the 
property  in  stores  as  could  be  gotten  away  were  hur- 
riedly shipped  to  distant  points,  but  it  was  known  that 
General  Averill's  command  was  somewhere  near  Ha- 
gerstown  with  railway  communication,  and  General 
Couch,  who  was  in  command  of  the  department  with 
his  headquarters  at  Chambersburg,  confidently  ex- 
pected to  have  General  Averill's  force  there  before 
McCausland  could  arrive,  if  he  continued  his  advance 
toward  the  town. 

When  McCausland  started  on  his  raid  the  enemy's 
division  of  Rhodes  and  Ramsler,  and  the  cavalry 
brigade  of  Vaughan,  crossed  the  river  at  Williamsport. 
Vaughan  moved  on  as  far  as  Hagerstown,  Md.  Averill 
was  thus  threatened  on  both  flanks,  and  fell  back  into 
Pennsylvania,  reaching  Greencastle,  only  twelve  miles 
from  Chambersburg,  by  sundown  of  the  day  that 
McCausland  marched  from  Mercersburg  to  Chambers- 
burg. Averill's  command  could  easily  have  been 
brought  to  Chambersburg  in  two  or  three  hours. 


of  Pennsylvania 


When  General  Couch  found  that  McCausland  was  con- 
tinuing his  march  to  Chambersburg,  having  passed 
through  Mercersburg  to  the  Pittsburg  pike,  he  sent 
three  urgent  despatches  to  Averill,  at  Greencastle, 
which  were  given  to  Averill 's  own  orderlies  for  immedi- 
ate transmission  to  him,  but  to  these  Couch  received 
no  reply,  and  near  daylight,  when  McCausland  had  his 
command  in  line  on  Federal  Hill,  where  his  guns  com- 
manded the  town,  Couch  was  compelled  to  hurry  away 
in  the  last  train  held  for  the  purpose,  with  his  staff 
and  a  few  orderlies,  they  being  the  only  force  he  had 
in  the  place.  He  had  a  home  guard  in  the  town,  of 
which  I  was  a  member,  and  we  were  sent  out  to  picket 
the  road  along  which  McCausland  was  supposed  to  be 
advancing.  As  we  were  expected  to  hide  in  fence 
comers,  I  changed  my  dress  for  an  old  suit  that  could 
not  be  damaged  by  any  amount  of  exposure,  and  left 
my  watch,  pocket-book,  etc.,  in  the  bureau  drawer  at 
home.  We  remained  out  on  the  picket  line  for  two  or 
three  hours,  when  General  Couch  sent  word  for  us  to 
return,  as  the  enemy  was  approaching,  and  we  should 
not  be  exposed  to  danger,  as  we  could  accomplish 
nothing. 

I  went  directly  to  the  headquarters  of  General 
Couch,  and  remained  with  him  imtil  early  the  next 
morning,  when  McCausland 's  command  was  within  a 
few  miles  of  Chambersburg.  Couch  had  no  force  at 
Chambersburg  beyond  a  little  squad  of  less  than 
twenty  men  under  the  command  of  an  Irish  corporal. 
They  were  sent  out  early  in  the  day,  and  they  advanced 
until  they  saw  the  signs  of  the  enemy's  approach, 
but  they  did  not  permit  themselves  to  be  seen,  nor 
their  presence  made  known  to  the  enemy  until  after 
dark,  when  the  gallant  corporal  so  maneuvered  his 
handful  of  men  that  McCausland  supposed  he  was 
confronted  by  a  regiment,  and  so  stated  in  his  official 

2  II 


l62 


Old  Time  Notes 


report.  The  corporal  knew  the  roads  perfectly,  and 
he  had  his  men  scattered,  and  every  now  and  then 
fired  as  the  enemy  appeared  to  be  approaching.  So 
admirably  did  he  manage  his  little  force  that  McCaus- 
land  was  not  able  to  advance  between  Mercersbtirg 
and  Chambersburg  any  faster  than  two  miles  an  hotir. 
Toward  daylight  the  corporal  returned  to  headquar- 
ters and  reported  that  the  enemy's  force  was  about 
3,000,  and  was  then  within  two  miles  of  the  town. 
As  Couch  could  get  no  communication  from  General 
Averill,  he  was  entirely  helpless  and  notified  his  staff 
and  the  little  band  of  men  who  had  been  fighting  all 
night,  that  the  train  he  had  had  in  readiness  for  some 
time  would  leave  in  half  an  hour. 

I  had  left  my  home  the  year  before,  when  Lee's  army 
came,  because  of  reliable  admonitions  that  I  should 
avoid  capture,  but  as  this  was  only  a  raid  that  could, 
at  the  most,  last  for  a  few  hours,  as  we  hoped  to  have 
Averill  come  to  our  aid  at  any  time,  I  refused  General 
Couch's  earnest  appeal  to  accompany  him,  and  started 
out  to  my  home,  only  to  find  my  wife  and  family  much 
more  concerned  about  getting  me  away  than  about 
the  advance  of  the  enemy.  Couch  sent  a  staff  officer 
to  my  house  renewing  the  appeal  for  me  to  leave, 
and  just  then  a  close  friend  drove  up  in  front  of  my 
house  in  a  buggy,  stopped  and  insisted  upon  me  going 
with  him.  I  accepted  his  invitation,  as  I  hoped  to 
be  able  to  return  to  Chambersburg  the  following  day, 
and  we  drove  to  Shippensburg,  but  before  noon  we 
had  the  first  reports  from  Chambersburg  that  the  town 
was  in  flames  and  vandalism  running  riot.  In  the 
evening  my  wife  and  family  joined  me  at  Shippens- 
burg and  reported  that  only  the  family  Bible  had  been 
saved  from  the  house,  as  it  was  picked  up  by  Mrs. 
McClure's  mother  as  she  took  her  departure,  and  an 
oil  portrait  of   myself  that  hung  in  the  parlor  had 


of  Pennsylvania  163 

been  hastily  torn  from  the  hook  by  Miss  Reilley,  who 
escaped  with  it  through  the  back  door. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Niccolls,  then  pastor  of  the  Chambers- 
burg  Presbyterian  church,  resided  quite  close  to  my 
home,  and  when  he  found  the  squad  enter  it  he  hastened 
to  the  house  and  gathered  up  a  number  of  my  clothes, 
but  they  were  rudely  taken  from  him  and  thrown  into 
the  fire.  The  work  of  burning  the  town  was  performed 
in  the  most  hurried  and  brutal  manner.  Many  of 
the  command  became  wildly  intoxicated  from  the 
liquors  they  found  in  the  saloons  and  cellars,  and  while 
a  large  portion  of  the  command  revolted  at  the  vandal- 
ism exhibited  by  many,  they  were  powerless  to  prevent 
it,  and  for  several  hours  the  command  was  engaged 
in  plundering  and  firing  all  the  buildmgs  in  the  center  of 
the  town.  Bradley  Johnson  was  the  active  commander, 
and  he  was  most  vindictive  and  merciless.  He  had 
left  his  home  at  Frederick,  where  he  was  a  lawyer  in 
good  practice,  to  join  the  Confederacy,  and  when  Lee's 
army  marched  through  Frederick  two  years  later, 
by  Johnson's  order  his  own  home  was  burned,  as  he 
never  expected  to  be  able  to  occupy  it  again,  and  his 
lot  was  cast  with  the  people  who  regarded  all  in  the 
North  as  implacable  foes. 

Fortimately,  this  burning  of  Chambersburg  occurred 
in  daylight  of  a  simny  midsummer  day,  and  the  sick 
and  feeble  were  all  removed  from  the  peril  of  the  flames. 
When  the  work  of  the  destruction  of  the  town  had  been 
well  under  way,  two  squads  were  ordered  out  to  destroy 
the  property  that  belonged  to  me  on  a  fann  at  the  edge 
of  the  town.  Captain  Smith,  son  of  ex-Govemor 
Smith,  of  Virginia,  headed  the  squad  that  burned  my 
residence  and  bam.  Mrs.  McClure  was  ill,  but  able 
to  be  about  in  her  room;  and  Captain  Smith  himself 
entered  her  chamber  and  notified  her  that  she  must 
be  out  of  the  house  within  ten  minutes.    She  asked 


164 


Old  Time  Notes 


permission  to  take  some  valuable  mementoes  from 
the  home,  but  it  was  rudely  denied.  She  then  reminded 
him  that  the  same  command,  or  part  of  it,  had  camped 
on  the  place  under  General  Jenkins,  who  commanded 
the  advance  of  Lee's  army  in  the  Gettysburg  campaign, 
that  the  bam  was  their  hospital,  and  that  she  herself 
ministered  to  them,  and  handed  him  a  letter  written 
to  her  by  one  of  the  sufferers  when  they  moved  toward 
Gettysburg;  but  in  ten  minutes  both  bam  and  house 
were  enveloped  in  flames — the  barn  containing  the 
entire  crops  from  the  large  farm.  Mrs.  McClure  and 
those  with  her  walked  several  miles  in  the  country, 
where  they  were  finally  taken  charge  of  by  a  neighbor 
and  driven  to  Shippensburg. 

On  the  southem  end  of  the  farm  there  was  a  brick 
residence  and  small  bam,  and  Colonel  Gilmore,  of 
Baltimore,  commanded  the  squad  that  was  ordered 
to  destroy  the  buildings.  He  rushed  into  the  house 
and  found  Mrs.  Boyd  and  her  two  children  at  break- 
fast. They  were  rudely  and  peremptorily  ordered  to 
leave  the  house  at  once,  as  he  had  orders  to  bum  it 
and  could  not  delay  for  a  minute.  She  asked  per- 
mission to  finish  her  breakfast,  but  it  was  refused. 
She  was  a  woman  of  heroic  mold,  and  the  wife  of  one 
of  the  most  gallant  troopers  of  the  border,  Colonel 
Boyd,  later  known  in  Philadelphia  as  connected  with 
the  publication  of  our  ''City  Directory."  She  arose 
from  the  table,  bidding  her  children  to  prepare  at  once 
to  leave,  and  while  they  were  gathering  their  little 
belongings,  she  said  to  Colonel  Gilmore:  ''Do  you 
know  whose  house  this  is?"  To  which  he  answered: 
''Certainly,  it  is  Colonel  McClure 's,"  and  Mrs.  Boyd 
replied:  "The  house  belongs  to  him,  but  it  is  now  the 
home  of  myself  and  children,  and  of  my  husband, 
Captain  Boyd,  of  the  Pennsylvania  cavalry,  "  to  which 
she  added  that  Colonel  Gilmore  could  now  proceed 


Of  Pennsylvania 


to  the  destruction  of  the  property.  He  at  once  Hfted 
his  hat  and  answered  that  he  would  not  bum  the  home 
of  so  gallant  a  soldier,  and  he  made  a  hurried  retreat 
from  the  place. 

Captain  Boyd  was  the  most  notorious  scouting 
trooper  on  the  border,  and  his  name  was  as  familiar 
in  Virginia  as  Moseby's  was  in  Pennsylvania.  Gilmore 
well  knew  that  if  he  burned  the  home  of  Captain  Boyd, 
a  score  or  more  of  Virginia  homes  would  pay  the  pen- 
alty. Fifty  suburban  houses  were  passed  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town  by  the  squad  of  burners  to  reach  my 
home  and  destroy  it,  and  a  like  number  of  suburban 
houses  were  not  disturbed  by  the  Gilmore  party  that 
went  to  destroy  the  improvement  at  the  southern 
end  of  the  farm.  At  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
McCausland  received  word  from  the  scouts  that  Averill 
was  approaching,  and  he  gathered  up  his  force  hastily, 
and  moved  rapidly  across  the  North  Mountain  into 
Fulton  County.  Averill  reached  Chambersburg  a 
few  hours  after  McCausland  had  left  the  town,  and 
he  pursued  McCausland,  finally  brought  him  to  bay 
after  three  days  of  pursuit  and  defeated  and  scat- 
tered his  command.  He  found  in  the  enemy's  camp 
many  of  the  valuables  which  had  been  taken  from 
the  homes  of  Chambersburg. 

The  actual  losses  sustained  by  the  people  of  Cham- 
bersburg in  the  destruction  of  personal  and  real  prop- 
erty were  finally  adjudicated  by  a  State  commission 
that  gave  $1,628,431.58  as  the  aggregate  value  of 
individual  property  destroyed.  Such  a  loss  in  a  town 
of  4,000  population  made  up  entirely  of  residences 
and  business  places,  without  any  large  manufacturing 
establishments,  plunged  the  entire  community  into 
the  starless  midnight  of  despair.  Many  were  at  once 
hopelessly  bankrupted,  many  more  struggled  to  rebuild 
their  homes  and  places  of  business  at  a  time  when 


i66 


Old  Time  Notes 


everything  commanded  inflated  prices,  and  struggled 
for  years  to  save  themselves,  but  finally  had  to  yield, 
as  property  depreciated  while  debts  accumulated. 
The  few  who  had  wealth  in  country  farms  or  securities 
could  afford  to  rebuild  their  homes,  but  that  number 
made  up  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  sufferers  of 
the  town. 

The  burning  of  Chambersburg  would  have  been 
utterly  impossible  if  the  steps  the  State  had  taken, 
imder  Governor  Curtin's  earnest  efforts  to  protect  the 
border,  had  been  allowed  to  serve  their  purpose.  The 
Governor  had  a  number  of  regiments  organized  solely 
for  border  defense  within  the  State,  but  they  were 
accepted  in  the  military  service  of  the  government 
only  on  the  very  proper  condition  that  in  any  emer- 
gency they  should  be  subject  to  the  orders  of  the  gov- 
ernment. More  than  enough  of  these  regiments  than 
would  have  been  needed  to  defeat  McCausland  in 
Chambersburg  passed  through  the  town  within  a  few 
days  before  its  destruction  to  reinforce  Hunter  on  the 
Potomac,  as  he  was  then  threatened  by  Earley,  and 
Averill,  whose  force  alone  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  protect  the  town,  was  not  at  his  headquarters  near 
Greencastle  when  the  despatches  reached  there,  but 
was  finally  found,  when  too  late  to  be  of  any  service, 
sleeping  alone  in  a  fence  comer  some  distance  from  his 
command,  and  his  orderlies  did  not  know  where  to 
find  him.  He  was  a  gallant  soldier,  had  been  making 
forced  marches  to  save  his  own  command  that  he 
supposed  was  threatened  on  one  flank  by  Vaughan,  and 
on  the  other  by  McCausland,  and  he  never  dreamed 
of  McCausland  making  the  raid  by  Mercersburg  to 
Chambersburg.  He  was  doubtless  exhausted,  and 
thought  that  the  only  duty  he  could  have  for  immediate 
performance  was  to  save  his  command  from  destruction. 

I  stated  at  the  outset  of  this  chapter  thac  the  destruc- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


167 


tion  of  Chambersburg  was  chiefly  or  wholly  provoked 
by  the  vandalism  of  Hunter  in  his  Lynchburg  cam- 
paign, and  that  its  execution  was  possible  because  of 
his  incapacity.  Already  sufficient  facts  have  been 
given  in  this  statement  to  show  that  he  was  utterly 
incompetent  to  handle  his  army,  not  only  up  to  the 
time  when  McCausland  started  on  his  raid,  but  if  he 
had  been  equal  to  his  important  trust  McCausland 
never  would  have  been  permitted  to  escape  on  any  such 
mission.  In  his  march  through  the  Valley  from  Lex- 
ington to  Lynchburg  he  had  been  guilty  of  the  most 
flagrant  violation  of  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare.  He 
had  burned  the  homes  of  Senator  Hunter,  of  Charles- 
town,  his  own  first  cousin,  and  bearing  the  name  of 
General  Hunter's  father;  of  Confederate  Congressman 
A.  R.  Boteler,  whose  wife  was  a  cousin  of  General 
Hunter;  of  Governor  Letcher,  then  Governor  of  the 
State;  of  J.  T.  Anderson,  connected  with  the  great 
Tredegar  Iron  Works,  in  Richmond;  of  E.  I.  Lee,  a 
leading  private  citizen  of  the  State,  and  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute.  All  of  these  were  grand  old  colon- 
ial homes,  and  they  were  destroyed  without  any  war- 
rant or  even  decent  excuse  whatever.  In  addition 
to  these,  many  private  homes  were  gutted  by  his  troops, 
their  contents  wantonly  destroyed,  and  the  historic 
statues  at  Lexington  were  broken  or  taken  away. 
Of  course,  he  destroyed  all  the  mills  and  factories  on 
the  line,  as  is  common  when  a  movement  is  made  to 
impair  the  resources  of  an  enemy,  but  from  the 
time  he  started  on  his  campaign  until  he  was  driven 
into  retreat  by  a  circuitous  route,  there  were  unmis- 
takable marks  of  the  most  brutal  vandalism  along 
his  entire  track. 

Earley  had  driven  Hunter  from  Lynchburg,  where 
he  retreated  without  accepting  battle.  With  Lee's 
crippled  condition  in  front  of  Grant,  it  was  not  possible 


i68 


Old  Time  Notes 


for  Earley  to  remain  on  the  Potomac,  and  he  gave  the 
order  to  McCausland  to  proceed  to  Chambersburg  and 
demand  a  ransom  sufficient  to  cover  the  private  prop- 
erty wantonly  destroyed  by  Hunter  in  his  raid,  or 
faihng  in  that  to  inflict  a  like  punishment  upon  Cham- 
bersburg. 

General  Earley,  in  a  pamphlet  published  some  time 
after  the  war,  entitled  ''A  Memoir  of  the  Last  Year 
of  the  War  for  Independence  by  the  Confederate 
States  of  America, ' '  speaking  of  the  burning  of  Cham- 
bersburg, said:  ''For  this  act  I  alone  am  responsible, 
as  the  officers  engaged  in  it  were  simply  executing 
my  orders  and  had  no  discretion  left  to  them." 

In  the  same  paper  he  recites  in  detail  many  acts  of 
vandalism  committed  by  Hunter  in  Virginia  without 
excuse  or  provocation,  and  adds  that  it  was  necessary 
to  carry  the  same  method  of  warfare  into  the  North 
to  insure  the  safety  of  homes  and  properties  in  the 
South. 

While  Earley  does  not  give  any  special  reasons  for 
selecting  Chambersburg  on  which  to  inflict  this  retribu- 
tion, it  was  well  known  then  that  throughout  the  South 
it  was  believed  that  John  Brown  made  his  base  in 
Chambersburg,  where  he  planned  his  wild  raid  on 
Harper's  Ferry  in  1859,  solely  because  the  people  of 
Chambersburg  were  in  sympathy  with  him.  It  was  a 
natural  supposition,  but  entirely  untrue.  There  was 
not  a  single  citizen  of  Chambersburg  who  knew  John 
Brown  as  John  Brown,  during  the  six  weeks  or  two 
months  he  made  that  town  his  residence.  He  was 
known  only  as  Dr.  Smith,  and  not  a  single  resident  of 
the  place  had  any  suspicion  of  his  real  purpose,  as  he 
announced  to  all  that  he  was  planning  important 
mineral  developments  in  Virginia.  I  saw  John  Brown 
a  score  of  times  or  more  during  his  stay  there,  conversed 
with  him  on  several  occasions,  and  never  doubted  that 


Of  Pennsylvania 


169 


he  was  the  man  he  represented  himself  to  be;  but  the 
fact  that  Chambersburg  was  made  his  base  created 
deep-seated  prejudice  in  the  South  against  the  town, 
and  it  is  more  than  probable  that,  but  for  the  John 
Brown  raid,  Chambersburg  might  not  have  been 
decreed  to  crucification  for  General  Himter's  vandalism 
and  incompetency. 

General  Earley  doubtless  believed  that  he  would 
halt  the  destruction  of  property  in  the  South  by  the 
burning  of  Chambersburg,  but  from  the  30th  of  July, 
1864,  tmtil  the  close  of  the  war,  not  a  single  State  in 
the  South,  where  our  armies  penetrated,  entirely 
escaped  fearful  retribution  for  the  destruction  of  the 
old  Cumberland  Valley  town.  On  the  slightest  pre- 
text the  Union  soldiers,  then  scattered  all  through  the 
South,  were  urged  to  deeds  of  vandalism  when  some 
desperate  leaders  would  give  out  the  cry:  "  Remember 
Chambersburg. ' '  I  met  a  Southern  lady  in  Columbia 
five  years  after  the  war,  whose  home  and  all  it  con- 
tained were  burned  by  Sherman's  army.  She  told  that 
the  squad  rushed  into  her  home,  ordered  her  to  leave 
it,  and  to  the  cry:  ''Remember  Chambersburg," 
applied  the  torch  and  left  it  in  ashes;  and  a  hundred 
Southern  homes  were  destroyed  for  every  half-score 
that  were  destroyed  in  Chambersburg.  It  was  a  costly 
retribution  to  Chambersburg,  but  it  was  a  twenty-fold 
more  costly  retribution  to  the  South.  Fortunately, 
before  another  year  had  passed  away  peace  came  at 
Appomattox,  and  the  inmates  of  Southern  homes  no 
longer  shuddered  at  the  cry:  ''Remember  Cham- 
bersburg. " 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXVII. 

THE  BORDER  WAR  CLAIMS. 

James  McDowell  Sharpe  and  the  Author  Elected  to  the  House  to  Secure 
Appropriation  for  the  Desolated  Town — How  William  H.  Kemble 
Became  State  Treasurer — Debate  on  the  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution Abolishing  Slavery  Forced  Sharpe  and  the  Author  to  Par- 
ticipate — Sharpe 's  Admirable  Speech — Why  the  Relief  Bill  Failed — 
How  the  Appropriation  of  Half  a  Million  Dollars  Was  Passed  a  Year 
Later. 

THE  McCausland  raid  that  destroyed  the  beauti- 
ful town  of  Chambersburg  was  the  last  visita- 
tion the  people  of  that  section  had  from  the 
opposing  arraies  of  our  civil  war.  General  Patter- 
son's army,  the  first  to  march  against  the  South  in  the 
Shenandoah  Valley,  in  the  early  spring  of  1861,  en- 
camped on  my  farm  at  Chambersburg,  and  made  that 
his  base  for  a  week  or  more.  That  occupation  saved 
me  the  trouble  of  harvesting  luxuriant  fields  of  clover 
and  timothy,  as  all  the  fields  in  grass  were  occupied 
by  the  army  and  the  crops  destroyed.  In  1862  Gen- 
eral Stuart  made  the  first  great  raid  of  the  war  around 
McClellan's  army  after  the  battle  of  Antietam,  and 
spent  the  night  in  Chambersburg,  as  I  have  already 
fully  described,  leaving  me  minus  ten  horses.  His 
raid  was  followed  by  what  were  always  the  most 
destructive  military  movements  in  our  valley,  with 
the  single  exception  of  the  burning  of  Chambersburg, 
the  invasion  of  the  militia  or  emergency  men,  sud- 
denly called  out  to  protect  the  border,  pitched  together 
into  companies  and  regiments  without  discipline, 
and  hurriedly  marched  away  without  quartermaster 
or  commissary  resources.    They  practically  lived  on 


Of  Pennsylvania 


171 


the  country,  and  they  were  necessarily  very  costly 
visitors. 

In  1863  two-thirds  of  Lee's  army  had  its  base  in 
Chambersburg  for  nearly  a  week,  and  E well's  corps 
of  over  20,000  men  followed  all  previous  military  forces 
by  camping  on  some  200  acres  of  level  ground  on  my 
farm,  with  railroad  on  one  side  and  water  on  the  other. 
Lee's  army,  however,  was  under  the  strictest  discipline, 
and  E well's  entire  corps,  or  most  of  it,  was  on  the 
farm  for  a  week ;  and  the  officers  occupied  my  residence, 
but  they  did  much  less  damage  than  a  single  regiment 
of  New  York  volunteers  encamped  on  the  same  place, 
who  were  the  first  to  reach  Chambersburg  after  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg.  The  middle  fences  had  then 
been  destroyed  by  both  armies,  and  the  only  crop 
that  I  was  enabled  to  gather  from  the  farm  during 
the  war  was  a  bountiful  harvest  in  1864,  that  was 
entirely  destroyed  in  the  barn  a  few  weeks  after  its 
harvesting. 

The  people  of  Chambersburg  were  left  in  a  most 
destitute  condition  by  the  destruction  of  the  town  on 
the  30th  of  July,  1864.  Nearly  or  quite  two-thirds  of 
the  population  were  entirely  homeless,  without  means 
and  without  the  occupations  which  afforded  them  a 
livelihood.  The  people  of  the  State  responded  very 
generously  in  sending  supplies,  but  with  more  than 
2,000  people  entirely  homeless  and  breadless  there  was 
often  want  in  many  family  circles.  I  had  a  large  com 
and  potato  crop  that  had  escaped  the  vengeance  of 
McCausland,  and  as  rapidly  as  these  crops  matured 
sufficiently  for  family  use  they  were  delivered  from 
day  to  day  to  the  sufferers  until  the  last  pound  had 
gone,  beyond  a  scant  allowance  for  my  own  household. 
Unfortunately,  we  were  then  in  the  high  tide  of  war 
inflation,  when  a  dollar  of  current  money  bought  no 
more  than  two-thirds  its  face  value  in  labor  or  neces- 


172 


Old  Time  Notes 


saries  of  life,  but  the  business  men  who  had  means  or 
credit  hastily  began  the  reconstruction  of  their  homes 
and  business  places,  costing  them  quite  double  what 
the  properties  commanded  when  many  were  forced  to 
sell  by  the  revulsion  that  followed. 

The  people  were  inspired  by  the  hope  that  the  Leg- 
islature would  come  to  their  relief  to  a  very  generous 
extent,  and,  as  I  have  explained  in  a  former  chapter, 
J.  McDowell  Sharpe,  who  stood  at  the  front  of  the 
Chambersburg  bar,  and  myself  had  been  elected  to  the 
house  and  charged  with  the  responsible  duty  of  obtain- 
ing relief  for  our  people  who  were  struggling  in  the  ashes 
of  their  desolated  homes.    Sharpe  and  I,  of  course, 
had  but  a  single  purpose  in  shaping  our  legislative 
actions,  and  that  was  to  successfully  perform  the  para- 
mount duty  of  obtaining  relief  for  our  neighbors.  At 
the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
January,  1865,  we  agreed  that  we  must  subordinate 
all  political  efforts  to  the  exceptionally  grave  duty 
im.posed  upon  us ;  that  we  would  take  no  part  in  polit- 
ical disputation;  that  our  attitude  on  all  legislative 
questions  should  be  governed  by  the  advantage  we 
could  command  for  the  passage  of  the  relief  bill.  The 
house  was  largely  Republican,  and  of  coiu^se  Sharpe, 
being  the  leading  Democrat  of  the  body,  was  voiceless 
in  shaping  its  organization;  but  Olmsted,  of  Potter, 
was  made  speaker  without  a  contest  by  the  Republican 
friends  of  the  border  claim  giving  him  a  united  support. 
He  was  a  man  of  the  highest  character,  and  all  we 
asked  of  him  was  an  entirely  fair  committee  to  pass 
upon  our  important  measure,  to  which  he  readily 
assented  and  fulfilled  his  promise.    He  was  not  asked 
to  pledge  himself  to  support  the  bill,  as  such  a  propo- 
sition would  have  been  offensive  to  one  of  his  delicate 
appreciation  of  official  pride,  but  we  had  the  assurance 
of  absolute  fairness,  and  hoped  to  have  him  with  us 


Of  Pennsylvania 


173 


when  the  struggle  came,  although  his  constituents  were 
very  generally  against  us. 

Before  the  Legislature  met  distant  portions  of  the 
State,  which  were  at  no  time  imperiled  by  the  Civil 
War,  were  inflamed  to  a  considerable  degree  against 
our  relief  bill  by  the  united  efforts  of  demagogues  and 
lobbyists.  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  that  day 
the  sum  of  $500,000  to  be  taken  from  the  treasury  for 
appropriation  outside  of  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
State  was  a  startling  proposition,  and  candidates  for 
the  Legislature  in  very  many  of  the  districts  openly 
pledged  themselves  against  what  they  called  the  border 
raid  bill,  to  secure  their  election  in  doubtful  districts, 
or  to  assure  their  renominations  where  elections  were 
not  doubtful.  The  entire  northern  tier  of  counties, 
then  almost  wholly  agricultural,  and  where  extreme 
frugality  was  the  rule  of  the  every-day  lives  of  the 
people,  were  appalled  by  the  proposition  to  take  half 
a  million  dollars  from  the  treasury  of  the  State.  Their 
farms  were  then  taxed  to  support  the  Commonwealth, 
and  $500,000  at  that  time  seemied  to  be  a  vastly  greater 
svim  than  $5,000,000  would  seem  to-day. 

Pittsburg  was  then  in  the  violent  throes  of  the  rail- 
road repudiation  struggle  that  convulsed  the  people 
of  Allegheny  for  many  years,  and  their  legislators  had 
little  sympathy  with  their  brethren  from  the  southern 
border,  because  their  revolutionary  movement  had 
commanded  little  sympathy  or  support  from  any  por- 
tion of  the  State  east  of  the  Alleghenies.  Thus,  a 
large  portion  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature  ap- 
peared at  Harrisburg  strongly  prejudiced  against  any 
important  border  relief  bill  because  of  political  or  local 
interests,  and  the  professional  lobbyists  of  the  State, 
who  then  embraced  a  number  of  able  and  unscrupu- 
lous men,  aided  systematically  in  prejudicing  legis- 
lators against  our  measure,  hoping  to  obtain  a  large 


174 


Old  Time  Notes 


corruption  fund  to  be  used  by  them  in  securing  votes 
for  the  bill,  with  large  profits  to  the  lobbyists  them- 
selves. When  we  appeared  at  Harrisburg  to  inaugu- 
rate the  struggle  for  the  relief  of  Chambersburg,  we 
were  amazed  to  learn  that  a  decided  majority  of  the 
house  was  not  only  not  in  sympathy  with  us,  but 
positively  against  us,  and  many  of  the  members  very 
aggressively  so. 

It  was  this  condition  that  brought  into  political 
prominence  William  H.  Kemble,  as  he  was  made  State 
treasurer  by  a  combination  between  his  Philadelphia 
friends  and  the  organized  supporters  of  the  relief  bill. 
I  had  known  Kemble  in  a  casual  way  for  several  years, 
but  never  had  opportimity  to  know  him  beyond  the 
flippant  surface  that  he  so  often  maintained,  hiding 
his  very  strong  natural  abilities  from  all  but  those  who 
knew  him  most  intimately.  We  had  some  twenty 
Republican  members  of  the  house  who  immediately 
represented  the  border  people,  or  who  were  sufficiently 
interested  in  the  work  of  furnishing  relief,  to  make 
them  cordially  co-operate  with  any  movement  deemed 
necessary  to  promote  the  passage  of  a  liberal  appro- 
priation. Philadelphia  representatives  were  nearly 
all  Republican,  and  they  had  been  thoroughly  organized 
to  make  battle  for  the  election  of  Kemble  as  State 
treasurer.  His  competitor  was  Dr.  Gross,  of  Alle- 
gheny, who  had  served  several  sessions  in  the  house, 
was  a  man  of  the  highest  character,  of  admitted 
ability,  and  universally  respected  by  all  who  knew 
him.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  he  would  have 
been  nominated  for  State  treasurer,  and  would  have 
filled  the  office  with  great  credit,  but  the  proposition 
came  to  us  to  give  the  support  of  the  Republican 
representatives  of  Philadelphia  for  the  border  relief 
bill  if  we  would  imite  with  them  to  make  Kemble 
State  treasurer. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


The  proposition  was  first  made  to  me  by  ex-Repre- 
sentative Thome,  with  whom  I  had  served  in  the  house 
some  years,  and  who  was  a  devoted  personal  friend. 
He  came  to  Chambersburg  and  made  the  proposition 
that  a  combination  be  made  between  the  border  and 
Philadelphia  Republicans  to  make  Kemble  treasurer 
and  to  pass  the  relief  bill.  I  was  greatly  surprised  when 
he  named  Kemble  as  his  candidate,  as  I  had  only  the 
merest  superficial  knowledge  of  the  man,  and  when  he 
first  told  me  that  the  Philadelphians  were  unitedly 
and  earnestly  for  him,  and  that  we  could  not  expect 
a  general  or  cordial  support  for  our  relief  bill  from  Phila- 
delphia without  the  border  people  supporting  him,  my 
answer  was:  Well,  if  you  people  can  stand  it,  I  can,  " 
and  the  combination  was  made  and  carried  out  with 
absolute  fidelity  on  both  sides.  But  for  this  alliance 
with  Philadelphia  the  Chambersburg  relief  bill  never 
would  have  been  permitted  to  appear  even  on  the 
house  calendar. 

I  learned  to  know  Kemble  better  after  he  came  into 
the  office  of  State  treasurer,  and  to  appreciate  his 
exceptionally  great  qualities.  He  was  at  times  impul- 
sive and  indiscreet,  but  he  discharged  his  official  duties 
with  great  fidelity,  and  he  started  the  imiportant  tax 
reform  relieving  the  farmers  of  the  State  entirely  from 
taxation  for  State  purposes  and  imposing  it  upon  the 
then  rapidly  developing  corporations.  He  became  a 
recognized  leader  not  only  in  State  politics,  but  in 
finance,  and  was  the  chief  author  of  the  pecrmiary 
success  attained  by  our  various  city  passenger  railways. 
He  was  the  best  equipped  man  in  passenger  railway 
business  not  only  in  Philadelphia,  but  in  any  other 
section  of  the  country,  and  he  was  unfaltering  in  his 
fidelity  to  personal  or  political  friendships.  He  was 
twice  re-elected  State  treasurer  by  the  Legislature,  and 
left  the  ofhce  at  the  expiration  of  three  years  with  the 


176 


Old  Time  Notes 


credit  of  the  State  fully  restored,  and  oiir  general 
financial  condition  immeasurably  improved. 

Never  did  two  men  more  earnestly  struggle  for  the 
relief  of  their  constituents  than  did  Sharpe  and  myself 
at  that  session  of  the  Legislature,  but  before  a  month 
of  the  session  had  passed  it  became  obvious  to  us  that 
success  was  not  within  the  range  of  possibility.  The 
measure  was  assailed  by  a  large  number  of  the  rural 
newspapers,  and  the  powerfully  organized  lobbyists 
who  then  ckistered  about  legislative  sessions  were 
aggressively  hostile  because  there  was  nothing  in  it 
for  them.  Sharpe  and  I  made  every  combination 
within  range  to  aid  or  hinder  legislation  if  thereby 
there  was  a  promise  made  for  our  single  cause.  Politi- 
cal disputation  ran  high  in  both  senate  and  house, 
but  we  were  stubbornly  silent.  As  Sharpe  was  alto- 
gether the  ablest  member  of  the  Democratic  minority, 
his  political  friends  complained  somewhat  that  he  was 
never  heard  in  the  political  scraps  that  so  often  hap- 
pened in  which  he  would  have  been  their  ablest  cham- 
pion. Finally  we  reached  the  proposed  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  for  the  abolish- 
ment of  slavery,  and  the  debate  on  it  was  altogether 
the  most  embittered  of  the  session.  Just  when  it  was 
at  the  high-water  mark  of  partisan  frenzy,  the  Demo- 
crats demanded  that  Sharpe  should  be  heard,  and  I 
had  been  also  urged  to  participate  in  the  debate  on  the 
other  side.  I  saw  that  the  Democrats,  where  we  had 
our  largest  support  for  the  relief  bill  otitside  of  Phila- 
delphia members,  were  determined  to  have  Sharpe 
speak,  and  I  passed  over  to  his  seat  and  proposed  that 
I  would  take  the  floor  in  support  of  the  anti-slavery 
amendment,  and  that  he  should  follow;  that  we  would 
both  deliver  dignified  addresses  which  would  not  be 
likely  to  call  out  violent  inteiTuption  or  criticism,  and 
that  after  the  delivery  of  the  speeches  we  would  then 


of  Pennsylvania 


177 


resiime  owe  attitude  of  absolute  refusal  to  participate 
in  political  discussion.  It  soon  became  known  that 
Sharpe  and  I  had  taken  a  temporary  release  from  our 
bondage  on  political  discussion,  and,  as  the  subject 
had  already  crowded  the  house  with  interested  spec- 
tators, the  senate  soon  adjourned  for  want  of  a  quorum, 
and  the  Governor  and  heads  of  departments  and 
senators  crowded  into  the  hail.  Sharpe 's  speech, 
although  entirely  spontaneous,  was  the  ablest  political 
address  I  ever  heard  him  deliver,  and  his  friends  were 
greatly  gratified.  He  was  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  subject,  as  he  had  discussed  the  question  very  fully 
time  and  again  on  the  stump,  and  he  rose  to  the  highest 
measure  of  his  great  ability  on  the  sudden  inspiration 
of  a  party  call  that  he  knew  demanded  of  him  an  argu- 
ment fully  worthy  of  himself.  He  was  one  of  the  few 
members  of  the  bar  who  presented  the  uncommon 
quality  of  perfectly  blending  all  the  attributes  of  a 
great  lawyer  with  all  the  attributes  of  a  brilliant  advo- 
cate, and  he  was  one  of  the  gentlest  and  most  lovable 
of  men. 

Hopeless  as  was  the  position  of  the  Chambersburg 
measure,  we  could  only  struggle  to  the  end,  although 
it  was  during  the  last  month  of  the  session,  simply  the 
struggle  of  despair,  and  the  Legislature  finally  ad- 
journed without  any  a'ppropriation  whatever  for  the 
relief  of  the  impoverished  people  of  the  burned  town. 
While  the  leading  men  of  Chambersburg  were  fully 
advised  of  the  progress  of  the  battle,  and  knew  that 
the  defeat  of  the  bill  was  inevitable,  the  majority  of 
the  people  in  their  extreme  necessities,  struggling  like 
the  drowning  man  grasping  at  the  straw,  hoped  even 
against  hope  that  they  w^ould  not  be  entirely  abandoned 
by  the  State,  and  when  the  Legislature  finally  ad- 
journed without  even  seriously  considering  the  relief 
measure  their  disappointment  was  as  terrible  as  it  was 

a — 13 


178 


Old  Time  Notes 


general.  Sharpe  and  I  were  in  constant  intercourse 
with  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  and  they  knew  long 
before  the  session  ended  that  $500,000  could  not  be 
taken  from  the  treasury  of  the  State,  even  for  the  most 
deserving  charity,  without  passing  through  the  slimy 
embrace  of  a  powerful  and  unscrupulous  lobby.  There 
were  many  conferences  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Legislature  between  the  active  citizens  of  the  town, 
which  Sharpe  and  I  attended,  and  we  both  stated 
frankly  that  the  appropriation  that  was  absolutely 
indispensable  to  Chambersburg  could  not  be  obtained 
by  any  combination  of  personal  or  political  interests, 
and  that  it  could  be  accomplished  only  by  yielding 
to  corruption  that  was  then  largely  asserting  its  mas- 
tery in  Pennsylvania  politics,  and  especially  in  legisla- 
tion; and  it  was  finally  definitely  decided  to  organize 
a  movement  at  once  to  obtain  the  appropriation  from 
the  succeeding  Legislature,  and  a  dozen  or  more  of 
those  who  had  sustained  the  heaviest  losses,  and  who, 
as  a  rule,  could  best  afford  to  dispense  with  relief, 
should  give  their  entire  portion  of  the  appropriation 
to  promote  its  passage.  The  result  was  that  new  men 
were  sent  to  the  Legislature,  and  the  battle  for  the 
relief  of  Chambersburg  was  made  outside  of  the  legis- 
lative halls.  The  measure  passed  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature  and  was  approved  by  Governor  Curtin, 
and  thus  half  a  million  came  at  last  to  the  relief  of  the 
long-despairing  sufferers  of  Chambersburg,  less  a  con- 
siderable sum  that  Was  filched  from  them  by  lobby 
extortion  and  Legislative  venality. 

A  number  of  the  heaviest  losers  did  not  receive  one 
dollar,  and  I  not  'only  received  no  part  of  mine,  which 
was  the  largest  claim  in  the  entire  list,  but  in  a  severe 
emergency  in  the  progress  of  the  conflict  I  gave  $2,500 
in  addition,  not  a  dollar  of  which  was  ever  repaid,  or 
expected  to  be  repaid;  but  with  all  these  resources, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


179 


we  were  unable  to  meet  the  ever-increasing  demand  of 
organized  corruption.  Finally  I  presented  the  matter 
to  Colonel  Scott,  then  vice-president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  who  was  a  native  of  Franklin  County, 
and  had  great  affection  for  the  people  of  the  desolated 
town.  He  understood  the  situation  at  a  glance,  knew 
the  forces  which  surrounded  and  the  obstacles  which 
confronted  it,  and  he  gave  a  peremptory  order  to  his 
representative  at  Harrisbiu*g  to  pass  the  Chambersburg 
relief  bill  tinder  any  and  all  circumstances.  But  for 
his  timely  and  most  generous  interposition  and  sub- 
stantial aid,  the  relief  bill  would  not  have  reached  final 
passage.  Beyond  half  a  dozen  men,  who  participated 
in  the  inner  movements  of  the  struggle,  the  people  of 
Chambersburg  received  the  liberal  appropriation  of  the 
State  without  ever  having  heard  the  name  of  Colonel 
Scott  mentioned  as  their  chief  benefactor. 

I  should  not  have  given  any  part  of  the  inner  story 
of  the  passage  of  the  Chambersburg  relief  bill,  but  for 
the  fact  that  it  seems  to  be  a  necessity  to  maintain 
the  truth  of  history,  and  in  some  future  chapter  I  must 
discuss  the  question  of  corruption  in  Pennsylvania 
politics,  especially  in  Pennsylvania  legislation.  I  have 
given  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  relief  bill  because  it 
was  an  imperious  necessity  that  the  relief  should  be 
obtained,  and  a  like  imperious  necessity  that  some 
should  assume  the  responsibility  of  submitting  to  the 
demands  of  corruptionists  to  give  success  to  a  measure 
that  was  a  naked  charity.  I  served  in  nine  sessions 
of  the  two  branches  of  the  Legislature,  covering  a 
period  of  sixteen  years,  and  during  the  time  that  Leg- 
islative venality  reached  its  high-water  mark.  I  do 
not  mean  that  Pennsylvania  politics  are  any  less  corrupt 
now  than  they  were  then,  but  I  think  it  is  due  to  truth 
to  say  that  the  general  individual  venality  in  legislation 
these  days  does  not  approach  the  measure  of  venality 


i8o 


Old  Time  Notes 


that  obtained  during  a  portion  of  the  time  in  which  I 
served  in  the  Legislature. 

There  was  then  no  such  thing  known  as  the  power 
of  party  leaders  to  pass  or  defeat  meastires  of  legisla- 
tion which  were  not  political,  and  venality  became  so 
general  because  of  the  vast  power  of  the  Legislature  to 
promote  individual  and  corrupt  interests  by  special 
legislation  under  the  old  Constitution.  Private  legis- 
lation was  practically  ended  by  the  Constitution  of 
1874,  and  petty  venality  that  had  become  so  general 
under  the  former  Constitution  was  largely  dethroned. 
Now,  measures  of  individual  profit  are  scaled  on  an 
immense  basis;  they  are  passed  or  defeated  in  our 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  largely  or  wholly  as  party 
leaders  command,  and  the  petty  Legislative  specula- 
tions of  a  few  hundreds  of  dollars  which  were  common 
in  early  times  have  now  given  way  to  colossal  specu- 
lations by  political  leaders,  and  a  small  portion  of  the 
profits  is  gradually  filtered  down  to  the  followers  to 
enable  them  to  keep  their  positions.  It  is  a  sorry 
chapter  to  appear  in  the  annals  of  our  great  Common- 
wealth, but  the  history  of  our  political,  industrial  and 
financial  achievements  would  be  incomplete  with  its 
omission. 


of  Pennsylvania  i8i 


LXVIII. 

THE  POLITICAL  STRUGGLE  OF  1865. 

Chambersburg's  Midnight  Jubilee  over  the  Surrender  of  Lee — The  Long 
Strained  Border  People  Had  Peace  at  Last — Peculiar  Political  Con- 
ditions— How  Cameron  Lost  His  Candidate  for  Auditor  General  by 
His  Struggle  to  Obtain  Control  of  the  Party  Organization — Senator 
Heistand  Defeated  When  He  Expected  a  Unanimous  Nomination — 
Hartranft  Suddenly  Forced  to  the  Front — The  Organization  for 
Chairmanship  of  the  Republican  State  Committee  Taken  from  the 
President  of  the  Convention  by  Resolution  of  Stevens — A  Sluggish 
Battle  Resulting  in  the  Success  of  the  Republican  Ticket. 

THE  darkest  hour  is  sometimes  just  before  the 
break  of  day,  and  the  people  of  smitten 
Chambersburg  reaHzed  the  truth  of  the  adage 
within  a  week  or  ten  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Legislature  that  had  refused  them  any  measure  of  relief, 
leaving  them  to  struggle  with  despair.  About  midnight 
on  the  gth  of  April,  1865,  when  the  sorely-depressed 
people  of  Chambersburg  were  at  rest,  many  of  them  in 
hastily-improvised  homes,  the  bell  of  the  courthouse 
that  had  been  hastily  rebuilt  awaked  the  community 
from  its  slumbers  as  it  rang  out  its  loudest  tones.  The 
ringing  was  continued  for  a  considerable  time,  and  in  a 
little  while  the  bells  of  churches,  which  had  escaped 
the  torch  of  the  vandal,  joined  in  the  welcome  music. 
It  was  known  to  all  that  there  was  then  no  immediate 
danger  of  a  raid  from  the  enemy,  and  all  understood 
that  some  cheerful  news  had  come  to  the  desolated 
town. 

I  was  waked  from  sleep  in  the  little  cottage  formerly 
occupied  by  a  colored  house  servant,  that  Captain 
Smith,  in  his  haste,  had  neglected  to  bum.    My  first 


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Old  Time  Notes 


impression  was  that  shared  by  nearly  all  when  the  first 
toll  of  the  bell  was  heard,  that  some  new  danger 
threatened,  but  very  little  reflection  made  me  under- 
stand that  there  could  be  no  immediate  peril  to  the 
community,  and  that  the  bells  were  ringing  out  the 
proclamation  of  some  achievement  toward  peace. 
After  a  hurried  and  imperfect  toilet  I  hastened  toward 
the  town  and  first  heard  the  echo  of  cheers  from  the 
center  of  the  village,  and  as  I  approached  nearer  I  was 
finally  enabled  to  distinguish  the  shouts  which  mingled 
with  the  cheers  of  the  people,  annoimcing  that  Lee  had 
surrendered.  The  trained  lightning  had  flashed  the 
same  message  from  Eastern  to  Western  sea,  and  there 
was  universal  rejoicing  throughout  the  entire  loyal 
brotherhood  of  people,  but  in  no  one  community  was 
the  news  so  profoundly  appreciated,  or  so  wildly  wel- 
comed, as  in  Chambersburg  and  its  beautiful  and 
bountiful  surroundings  on  the  border. 

For  four  long  years  the  people  of  Franklin  County 
had  been  under  the  severe  strain  of  border  warfare. 
They  had  been  raided  in  1862  by  Stuart,  in  1863  by 
Jenkins,  in  1864  by  McCausland,  who  had  levelled 
Chambersburg  to  ashes,  and  in  addition  Lee's  army 
occupied  the  county  for  some  days  before  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg.  There  was  no  time  during  those  four 
years  when  Moseby,  or  any  like  commander  of  Southern 
raiders,  could  not  have  penetrated  even  as  far  north 
as  Chambersbui'g  in  a  single  night,  excepting  only  in 
the  dead  of  winter.  The  people  had  not  only  suffered 
from  actual  raids,  but  by  the  appropriation  of  property 
alike  by  Union  and  Southern  soldiers,  and  there  was 
rarely  a  month  during  any  of  the  four  summers  when 
they  were  not  under  the  exhausting  strain  of  appre- 
hension of  raids  or  invasion  from  the  South.  To  these 
long-suffering  people,  who  had  not  only  given  their  full 
quota  of  their  fathers  and  sons  to  join  in  the  flame  of 


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183 


battle  for  the  Union,  but  had  suffered  constant  waste 
and  terrible  anxiety,  the  surrender  of  Lee  meant  more 
than  peace  to  the  nation,  and  the  final  triumph  of  the 
Union  cause;  it  meant  to  them  peace  in  their  homes, 
protection  against  robbery,  and  safety  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  daily  avocations. 

I  have  many  times  seen  aggregations  of  people  ex- 
press enthusiastic  delight,  but  never  before  nor  since 
have  I  witnessed  a  mass  of  people  express  such  whole- 
souled  gratification.  Not  only  those  who  rent  the  air 
with  their  cheers,  and  the  many  enthusiasts  who  shook 
hands  and  embraced  each  other  in  the  fervor  of  their 
joy,  but  there  were  other  hundreds  of  men  and  women 
whose  mute  but  expressive  eloquence  told  the  story 
that  at  last  relief  had  come  to  the  long-fretted  and 
plundered  people.  To  them  it  was  not  only  peace  to 
State  and  Nation,  but  it  was  rest  in  the  homes  which 
had  long  been  racked  by  constant  apprehension.  All 
who  were  able  to  leave  their  beds  were  on  the  street,  and 
remained  there  until  the  light  of  another  day  broke  in 
the  east  as  the  sun  arose  to  shine  upon  the  liberated 
people. 

The  surrender  of  Lee  that  was  soon  followed  by  the 
surrender  of  Johnston,  and  later  by  every  organized 
Confederate  command  in  the  field,  at  once  brought  the 
people  of  the  North  to  face  the  new  grave  problems 
which  confronted  them..  The  North  had  overthrown 
the  military  power  of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  Con- 
federacy itself  was  hopelessly  destroyed,  with  its  chief 
executive  a  prisoner  at  Fortress  Monroe.  General 
Grant,  with  all  his  heroic  record,  exhibited  the  highest 
heroism  of  his  life  when  he  dictated  the  generous  terms 
on  which  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army  was  accepted. 
He  was  severely  criticised  by  the  more  radical  element 
of  the  Republican  party,  but  the  people  of  the  country 
very  soon  learned  to  appreciate  how  grandly  Grant  had 


184 


Old  Time  Notes 


vindicated  himself,  and  how,  in  defiance  of  well-known 
views  of  the  cabinet,  he  had  opened  the  door  wide  for 
the  return  of  peace  b}^  paroling  General  Lee  and  all  the 
officers  of  his  army,  under  the  solemn  assurance  that 
they  could  return  to  their  homes  and  remain  unmolested 
as  long  as  they  obeyed  the  laws  of  the  government  in 
force  in  their  respective  localities. 

This  condition,  for  which  Grant  was  alone  responsi- 
ble, mxade  it  impossible  for  the  government,  without 
violating  its  solemnly  plighted  faith,  to  persecute  or 
punish  any  of  the  officers  in  Lee's  army;  and  some 
months  later,  when  President  Johnson,  in  the  floodtide 
of  his  vindictive  assaults  upon  the  South  after  he  be- 
came President,  decided  to  inflict  some  punishment 
upon  Lee  and  other  officers.  Grant,  then  the  General  of 
the  army,  notified  the  President  that  he  would  be 
guilty  of  an  act  of  dishonor  in  violating  any  of  the 
terms  of  Lee's  surrender,  and  stated  distinctly  that  if 
the  President  attempted  it  the  General  could  no  longer, 
with  self-respect,  hold  a  commission  in  the  army  of  the 
United  States.  That  position  assumed  by  General 
Grant,  and  that  alone,  saved  Johnson  from  adding  to 
his  many  other  follies  the  prosecution  of  Lee's  paroled 
officers  and  other  Confederate  generals.  While  all  in 
the  North  had  been  for  several  years  discussing  the 
basis  of  peace  with  little  agreement  of  public  sentiment, 
Grant  solved  the  problem  himself  by  teaching  the 
Nation  that  the  way  to  peace  was  by  the  highest  meas- 
ure of  magnanimity  to  the  vanquished.  I  honor  Grant 
more  for  what  he  did  at  Appomattox  than  for  any 
military  achievement  of  his  life.  He  not  only  heroic- 
ally blazed  the  way  to  peace,  but  his  first  thought  after 
signing  the  surrender  with  I/ce,  and  voluntarily  issuing 
an  order  for  all  of  Lee's  exhausted  heroes  to  be  bounti- 
fully fed  from,  the  Union  commissary  stores,  made  him 
hurriedly  start  to  Washington  to  take  the  promptest 


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measures  for  the  reduction  of  the  army  to  halt  the 
appalHng  expenses  of  the  war. 

With  all  the  enormous  taxes  gathered  from  the  people 
to  support  the  war;  with  the  lavish  expenditure  for 
bounties  that  loaded  not  only  cities  and  counties  but 
townships  with  enormous  debt,  the  debt  of  the  nation 
was  over  two  billions,  and  there  were  few,  indeed,  at 
that  day  who  were  hopeful  that  the  National  credit 
could  be  maintained.  The  government  bonds  were 
payable  in  coin,  and  silver  was  at  a  premium  over  gold, 
while  in  all  the  transactions  of  e very-day  life  among 
the  people  the  currency  of  the  nation  was  accepted  as 
a  legal  tender  enforced  by  law,  when  a  dollar  of  the 
lawful  money  of  the  country  did  not  purchase  two- 
thirds  of  its  face  value  in  the  necessaries  of  life.  Had 
President  Johnson  at  once  planted  himself  on  a  peace 
platform  with  Grant  after  he  had  waded  into  the 
Presidency  through  the  tears  of  a  bereaved  nation, 
there  would  have  been  less  disturbance  and  imcer- 
tainty  in  the  North,  but  he  started  out  to  pursue  the 
leading  men  of  the  South  most  vindictively.  He  pro- 
claimed Davis  and  others  as  assassins  of  President  Lin- 
coln, and  his  whole  policy  seemed  to  have  but  one  aim 
and  that  to  plunge  the  two  sections,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  mto  an  aftermath  of  even  more  fiendish  hatred 
and  brutality  than  war  itself  had  given.  Fortunately, 
he  changed  his  attitude  before  the  summer  ended,  but, 
like  the  violently-swung  pendulum  that  had  gone 
beyond  its  normal  point,  the  swing  of  vengeance 
naturally  exceeded  the  normal  point  of  generous  peace 
in  its  rebound. 

These  conditions  brought  the  Republican  leaders  of 
Pennsylvania  to  a  sober  realization  of  the  new  duties 
which  had  come  upon  the  party.  We  had  a  National 
administration  that  was  ostensibly  Republican,  and 
yet  the  new  President  had  already  taken  two  positions 


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Old  Time  Notes 


on  the  question  of  adjustment  with  the  South  so 
violently  extreme  and  so  violently  opposing  each 
other  that  the  party  was  placed  in  a  very  embarrassing 
condition  when  the  State  convention  of  1865  met  at 
Harrisburg  to  nominate  candidates  for  auditor  general 
and  surveyor  general.  The  incumbents  of  those  offices 
were  Democrats,  having  been  elected  in  the  Republican 
break  of  1862,  caused  chiefly  by  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  but  neither  Auditor  General  Slenker  nor 
Surveyor  General  Barr  was  a  candidate  for  renomi- 
nation.  The  Democrats  were  greatly  encouraged  by 
the  varying  radical  policies  of  the  President,  and  at 
the  time  their  convention  met  they  were  hopeful,  and 
with  good  reason,  that  Johnson  would  gradually,  and 
at  an  early  day,  develop  into  a  full-fledged  Democratic 
President.  They  placed  at  the  head  of  their  ticket  for 
auditor  general  the  gallant  Democratic  soldier,  General 
Davis,  of  Doylestown,  who  was  not  only  distinguished 
as  a  soldier,  but  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  character 
and  admirable  personal  qualities.  For  surveyor  gen- 
eral they  nominated  John  Linton,  of  Cambria,  who  had 
been  a  Whig  in  the  earlier  days,  and  unusually  strong 
in  the  interior  of  the  State,  and  they  made  an  earnest 
battle ;  but  public  sentiment  was  easily  aroused  against 
placing  the  Democrats  in  power  to  make  peace  after 
four  years  of  war,  whose  policy  they  had  so  generally 
opposed,  and  General  Davis  was  defeated  by  over 
20,000. 

The  Republicans  had  every  indication  of  a  very 
peaceful  convention.  John  A.  Heistand,  of  Lancaster, 
then  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  inland  Republican 
papers  of  the  State,  who  had  served  in  both  house  and 
senate,  was  a  candidate  for  auditor  general.  He  was 
ranked  as  a  supporter  of  General  Cameron,  but  while 
he  faithfully  followed  Cameron  in  every  emergency  that 
called  for  a  rally  of  Cameron's  friends,  he  maintained 


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187 


very  friendly  relations  with  Governor  Curtin,  and 
nearly  or  quite  all  the  men  around  him.  He  knew  that 
the  friends  of  Curtin  would  be  likely  to  control  the  con- 
vention, and  he  personally  visited  Curtin  and  others 
closely  connected  with  him  and  appealed  to  them  to 
assent  to  his  nomination  for  auditor  general  and  have 
the  party  with  a  united  front  and  a  candidate  who 
would  not  be  presented  to  the  people  by  a  faction.  He 
was  a  jolly,  genial  fellow,  was  personally  liked  by  all 
who  knew  him,  and  some  time  before  the  meeting  of 
the  convention  Curtin  and  his  people  had  all  assented 
to  the  nomination  of  Heistand  for  auditor  general. 

The  convention  was  composed  of  a  number  of  the 
ablest  of  the  Republican  leaders,  including  Thaddeus 
Stevens,  who  had  consented  to  come  as  a  delegate  for 
Heistand;  General  Todd,  of  Carlisle,  who  was  one  of 
the  ablest  and  boldest  of  leaders  in  the  fight;  John 
Cessna,  of  Bedford,  ex-Democratic  speaker,  with  many 
others  of  much  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  influ- 
ence. The  convention  was  known  to  have  a  decided 
majority  of  delegates  who  were  friends  of  Curtin,  but 
as  there  was  to  be  no  contest  on  the  nomination  of 
Heistand,  a  follower  of  Cameron,  for  auditor  general, 
it  was  accepted  all  around  that  there  was  little  or  noth- 
ing to  do  beyond  the  formality  of  making  nominations. 
The  morning  session  of  the  convention  was  devoted  to 
the  appointment  of  committees  for  permanent  organi- 
zation, resolutions,  etc.,  and  after  a  brief  session  ad- 
joirmed  to  meet  in  the  afternoon. 

Before  the  meeting  of  the  afternoon  session  it  became 
whispered  around  that  Cameron,  not  content  with 
getting  the  head  of  the  ticket  from  the  Curtin  conven- 
tion, had  manipulated  the  committee  on  permanent 
organization  by  compelling  Heistand  to  give  his  two 
members  of  the  committee  from  Lancaster  County  to 
the  Cameron  side,  and  thus  nominate  Johnson,  a 


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Old  Time  Notes 


prominent  and  aggressive  friend  of  Cameron,  for 
president  of  the  convention.  Inquiry  was  at  once 
made,  and  we  ascertained  that  Cameron  had  forced 
Heistand  to  transfer  the  committeemen  from  his  own 
county  against  their  wishes  to  the  Cam^eron  candidate 
for  president,  and  a  murmur  of  indignation  swelled  up 
at  once  throughout  the  whole  Curtin  ranks,  as  Cessna 
was  expected  to  be  named  without  a  contest.  A  hasty 
conference  was  called  in  which  Stevens  participated, 
as  he  felt  that  the  transfer  of  the  committeemen  from 
his  own  county  under  Cameron's  order  was  an  outrage 
not  to  be  pardoned,  and  we  decided  that  instead  of 
defeating  the  Cameron  candidate  for  president  of  the 
convention,  as  we  could  have  done,  we  wotild  give  him 
a  imanimous  election,  and  then  when  he  entered  the 
chair,  and  was  presumably  in  possession  of  the  power 
of  the  convention,  we  would  publicly  impale  him. 

When  Heistand  was  reproached  for  his  perfidy  to 
the  Curtin  people,  he  could  do  no  more  nor  less  than  to 
admit  that  Cameron  had  demanded  it  of  him,  and  in 
less  than  an  hour  the  convention  that  was  to  nominate 
Heistand  for  auditor  general  unanimously,  organized 
to  defeat  him,  and  then  to  strip  the  president  of  the 
convention  of  his  power  to  appoint  the  chairman  of 
the  State  committee.  Stevens  said  that  he  would 
obey  his  instructions  and  vote  for  the  nomination  of 
Heistand,  but  insisted  that  he  had  committed  an  out- 
rage that  should  be  resented,  and  he  participated  in  the 
conference  that  decided  who  should  be  presented  to 
defeat  Heistand,  and  how  it  should  be  done.  Cam- 
eron's purpose  in  forcing  Heistand  to  betray  his  Curtin 
friends  in  the  selection  of  the  president  of  the  conven- 
tion was  to  be  able  to  name  the  chairman  of  the  State 
committee,  either  for  himself  or  for  some  one  who  would 
be  distinctly  in  his  interest,  and  with  a  Cameron  man 
at  the  head  of  the  ticket,  a  Cameron  man  president  of 


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189 


the  convention,  and  a  Cameron  man  chairman  of  the 
State  committee,  he  would  present  the  appearance  of 
omnipotence  in  the  State. 

I  was  one  of  three  men  assigned  to  the  duty  of  con- 
fening  with  General  Kartranft,  who  was  present  at  tJie 
convention,  but  not  a  delegate,  to  ask  him  to  accept  a 
nomination  for  auditor  general.  I  might  here  say  that 
at  that  time  General  Hartranft  was  regarded  by  Curtin 
and  his  friends  as  their  candidate  for  Governor  the 
following  year,  1866,  and  Hartranft,  of  course,  had  no 
thought  of  being  auditor  general,  and  reluctantly 
accepted  it;  but  as  the  men  who  urged  him  to  accept 
were  the  men  upon  whom  he  depended  for  the  guber- 
natorial nomination,  he  finally  yielded  to  their  impor- 
tunities, and  agreed  that  his  name  should  be  presented 
to  the  convention  if  we  thought  it  best  to  do  so. 

It  was  known  that  the  Democrats  would  present 
General  Davis,  a  distinguished  soldier,  for  the  office, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  General  Todd,  who  had  a  good 
military  record,  and  who  was  a  most  eloquent  champion 
of  any  cause  he  supported,  should  present  the  name  of 
Hartranft  to  the  convention,  and  demand  his  nomination 
as  a  matter  of  justice  to  the  gallant  soldiers  of  Penn- 
sylvania. John  Cessna,  who  had  been  a  Democrat, 
legislator  and  speaker  of  the  house,  and  who  had  been 
slaughtered  by  Heistand,  followed  Todd  in  support  of 
the  soldier  candidate,  and  several  other  able  like 
appeals  were  made;  and  when  the  first  ballot  was 
footed  up,  Heistand  was  dumfounded  to  discover  that 
he  was  largely  defeated  by  Hartranft,  who  had  been 
sprung  upon  the  convention  just  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment.  The  convention  made  its  record  consistent 
by  nominating  General  J.  M.  Campbell,  another  gal- 
lant soldier,  for  surveyor  general,  thus  presenting  a 
solid  soldier  ticket  of  candidates  exceptionally  strong. 

After  the  nominations  had  been  made  the  work  of 


igo  Old  Time  Notes 

the  convention  was  about  to  conclude,  and  Stevens 
rose  in  his  place  and  offered  a  resolution  that  John 
Cessna  be  appointed  chairman  of  the  Republican  State 
conamittee.  The  Cameron  leaders  at  once  saw  that 
they  had  not  only  defeated  themselves  in  the  conven- 
tion for  auditor  general,  but  that  their  control  of  the 
president  of  the  body  was  to  bring  them  nothing  but 
humiliation.  They  vainly  urged  that  it  was  the  im- 
memorial custom  of  the  party  to  have  the  president  of 
the  convention  appoint  the  chairman  of  the  State 
committee  in  consultation  with  the  candidates  on  the 
State  ticket,  but  it  was  answered  that  the  president  of 
the  convention  of  1864  had  appointed  the  chairman 
of  the  State  committee  against  the  expressed  wishes 
of  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  members  of  the  body. 
It  was  a  hopeless  fight  for  the  already-defeated  sup- 
porters of  Cameron,  and  the  resolution  was  carried  by 
a  decided  majority.  Cameron  not  only  thus  lost  his 
candidate  for  auditor  general,  who  would  have  been 
accepted  by  the  Curtin  people,  but  he  had  an  aggressive 
anti-Cameron  man  placed  at  the  head  of  the  organi- 
zation, instead  of  one  reasonably  acceptable  to  both 
sides,  as  would  have  been  done  if  Heistand  had  not 
been  compelled  to  violate  his  faith  with  his  Curtin 
friends  and  defeat  himself. 

It  was  a  most  unexpected  and  humiliating  defeat  for 
Heistand,  but  he  realized  that  he  had  been  forced 
wantonly  to  provoke  the  battle  that  unhorsed  him. 
He  was  popular  with  his  people,  who  later  sent  him 
to  Congress  for  two  terms,  and  closed  his  official  career 
as  naval  officer  of  Philadelphia,  a  position  with  liberal 
salary  and  little  or  nothing  to  do.  He  enjoyed  the 
navy  office  immensely,  and  frequently  gave  high 
encomiums  to  the  genius  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who 
had  created  one  honorable  and  lucrative  office  with 
limited  duties,  which  could  be  performed  wholly  by 


Of  Pennsylvania 


assistants.  Like  many  others,  as  age  grew  upon  him 
he  did  not  appreciate  the  celerity  with  which  business 
conditions  were  advancing  about  him,  and  that  jour- 
nalism was  a  most  exacting  mistress,  and  he  went  on  in 
the  good  old  quiet  way  until  others  outstripped  him 
in  his  calling.  Then  broken  health  came ;  his  life-work 
was  finished,  and  green  memories  come  back  to  many 
in  the  gentle  whispers  from  the  tomb. 


192 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXIX. 

GEARY  NOMINATED  FOR  GOVERNOR. 

Cameron's  First  Complete  Control  of  the  Republican  Organization  of  the 
State — Geary  Bitterly  Opposed  by  Prominent  Republicans  Because 
He  Had  Been  Willing  to  Accept  the  Democratic  Nomination — Quay 
and  Tom  Marshall  Among  the  Foremost  Belligerents — Geary  Visits 
the  Author  After  His  Nomination — All  Personal  and  Factional 
Interests  Forgotten  to  Elect  Geary  to  Rebuke  President  Johnson's 
Apostacy — Clymer,  the  Democratic  Candidate,  Made  a  Gallant 
Struggle  and  Fell  in  the  Race — Interesting  Sequel  to  Geary's  Pledges 
to  the  Author. 

WHILE  the  Republican  victory  of  1865  appeared 
to  anchor  Pennsylvania  safely  in  the  Republi- 
can column,  the  new  political  conditions  which 
suddenly  confronted  the  Republicans  in  1866  threw  a 
serious  element  of  doubt  into  the  important  battle  of 
that  year  that  involved  the  election  of  a  Governor. 
President  Johnson  had  adopted  a  reconstruction  policy 
of  his  own,  and  attempted  to  enforce  it  by  the  most 
violent  and  prescriptive  political  methods.  Had  it 
been  merely  a  liberal  reconstruction  policy  the  Repub- 
licans could  have  been  brought  into  its  support,  but 
his  reconstructed  Southern  States,  many  of  which 
elected  governors,  senators,  congi'essmen  and  legisla- 
tures, adopted  such  harsh  measures  in  the  treatment 
of  the  emancipated  slaves  that  Republican  sentiment 
generally  revolted  against  the  whole  scheme. 

As  Johnson  had  been  in  the  Presidential  office  for  a 
year  or  more  with  nearly  three  years  to  wield  the 
enormous  power  and  patronage  of  the  Government,  he 
was  an  important  political  factor.  The  list  of  Federal 
officials  in  the  State  had  been  largely  increased  by  the 


of  Pennsylvanisl 


necessities  of  war,  and  while  all  of  them  were  originally 
Republicans,  most  of  them  were  tempered  into  sub- 
mission to  the  policy  of  the  administration  or  passive 
approval.  Johnson's  policy  appealed  rather  forcefully 
to  the  old  war  Democrats,  who,  while  they  ardently 
supported  the  Government  on  the  question  of  defeating 
rebellion  by  military  power,  as  a  rule  they  had  little 
sympathy  with  radical  Republican  views  and  aims. 
This  political  confusion  presented  an  inviting  field  for 
the  consummate  political  genius  and  energy  of  General 
Cameron.  He  kept  himself  in  close  touch  with  Presi- 
dent Johnson  and  soon  became  known  as  an  important 
power  in  disposing  of  the  President's  patronage  in  the 
State.  This  power  enabled  him  to  wield  considerable 
influence  outside  of  his  own  formidable  personal 
strength,  in  his  struggle  for  the  control  of  the  State 
convention,  and  he  won  out  completely. 

I  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention,  as  were  Colonel 
Mann,  Colonel  Quay,  Tom  Marshall,  Senator  Finney, 
Senator  Ketchum  and  a  number  of  other  active  Curtin 
men,  and  we  were  greatly  surprised  to  learn,  when  the 
convention  met,  that  it  was  absolutely  a  Cameron 
assembly.  He  had,  for  the  first  time,  won  absolute 
mastery  of  the  Republican  State  convention  and  the 
organization,  and  his  candidate  for  Governor  was 
General  Geary,  who  was  specially  objectionable  to 
the  men  I  have  named  and  many  others,  because, 
within  three  months  of  the  meeting  of  the  convention, 
he  had  written  a  letter  to  Mr.  Maguire  that  was  given 
to  the  public,  assenting  to  the  use  of  his  name  as  a 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  same  office. 

The  Curtin  men  had  no  special  candidate  for  Gover- 
nor. General  Hartranft,  whom  they  had  expected  to 
make  their  candidate  in  1866,  had  been  forced  to  accept 
the  nomination  for  auditor  general  in  1865,  and  he 
was  more  than  Vv^illing  to  remain  in  the  auditor  gen- 


194 


Old  Time  Notes 


erars  office  instead  of  taking  the  chances  of  the  gu- 
bernatorial nomination  and  election.  So  general  was 
the  confusion  in  Republican  circles  throughout  the 
State,  because  of  the  friction  between  the  President 
and  the  party,  that  grave  apprehensions  were  enter- 
tained as  to  party  success,  and  Cameron  alone  under- 
stood the  exact  character  of  the  convention  before  it 
convened.  He  had  not  only  won  the  convention  and 
named  the  candidate  for  Governor,  who  w^as  nominated 
and  elected,  but  his  purpose  was  for  the  convention  to 
give  either  a  direct  or  a  quasi  endorsement  of  the  John- 
son administration.  Cameron  believed  that  the  party 
could  be  held  intact  even  on  such  a  platform  and  that 
he  would  thus  have  all  the  influence  and  patronage  of 
the  President  to  aid  in  his  struggle  for  re-election  to 
the  Senate. 

Many  conferences  were  held  to  form  a  combination 
by  which  a  candidate  for  Governor  could  be  presented 
with  sufficient  strength  to  defeat  Geary,  but  the  Cam- 
eron lines  were  invincible.  The  proposition  to  give 
some  form  of  endorsement  to  the  administration  of 
President  Johnson  was  not  developed  tmtil  the  con- 
vention met,  and  it  had  not  been  previously  discussed 
in  any  section  of  the  State.  It  startled  the  active  men 
of  the  convention  who  were  opposed  to  Cameron,  and 
the  final  conference  was  held  in  my  room  the  night 
before  the  convention  met,  attended  by  some  thirty 
prominent  members  of  the  body,  and  after  very  careful 
review  of  the  situation  we  decided  that  formal  notice 
should  be  given  to  General  Cameron  early  the  next 
morning  that  if  the  convention  in  any  degree  endorsed 
the  administration  of  President  Johnson  a  large  min- 
ority of  the  delegates  would  immediately  retire,  organ- 
ize a  Republican  convention  and  nominate  a  Republican 
candidate  for  Governor. 

One  of  the  most  active  and  earnest  of  the  men  in  this 


Of  Pennsylvania 


195 


movement  was  Colonel  Quay,  and  he  and  Ketchum,  of 
Luzerne,  were  charged  with  the  mission  of  calling  upon 
Cameron  and  informing  him  of  the  action  taken  at  the 
conference.  They  waited  upon  Cameron  early  the 
next  morning,  notified  him  of  the  action  of  the  confer- 
ence, and  Cameron  at  once  abandoned  any  endorsement 
of  Johnson,  and  gave  the  assurance  that  it  would  not 
be  attempted,  although  he  believed  that  it  would  be 
good  policy  for  the  convention  to  do  so. 

When  the  convention  met  the  proceedings  at  once 
exhibited  tinusual  bitterness  on  the  part  of  the  mi- 
nority, and  at  every  stage  of  the  two  sessions  of  the 
body  the  discussions  were  quite  acrimonious.  Tom 
Marshall  was  irrepressible,  and  he  sent  his  pujigent 
broadsides  into  the  majority  with  all  his  grand  elo- 
quence and  vehemence.  I  was  suffering  from  chills 
and  fever,  and  I  do  not  recall  many  very  amiable  ex- 
pressions from  me  in  the  various  spats  we  had  as  the 
work  of  the  convention  progressed.  I  followed  Mar- 
shall, who  had  poured  out  a  torrent  of  protest  against 
nominating  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor 
one  who  had  a  few  weeks  before  declared  his  willing- 
ness to  accept  the  Democratic  nomination  for  the  same 
office,  and  I  did  not  conceal  my  distrust  of  a  candidate 
whose  political  opinions  were  so  loosely  worn. 

Geary  was  evidently  much  disturbed  by  the  aggres- 
sive attitude  of  those  who  opposed  his  nomination.  He 
called  at  my  room  at  nine  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
where  I  was  detained  in  bed  by  a  chill,  to  set  himself 
right  on  the  question  of  fidelity  to  the  party.  He  gave 
the  most  positive  assurances  that  if  elected  Governor 
he  would  not  only  make  a  straightforward  Republican 
administration,  but  that  it  should  be  free  from  the  in- 
fluence of  faction.  I  told  him  frankly  that  I  did  not 
have  abiding  faith  in  his  fidelity  to  the  Republican 
cause,  but  thai  lie  need  give  himself  no  concern  as  to 


ig6  Old  Time  Notes 

the  action  of  the  minority  members  of  the  convention, 
as  they  would  heartily  support  him,  because  his  elec- 
tion was  an  absolute  necessity  to  secure  to  the  country 
the  legitimate  fruits  of  the  civil  war  that  had  been 
fought  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 

I  did  not  tell  him  that  at  the  conference  held  in  my 
room  the  night  before  there  was  a  strong  disposition 
exhibited  by  a  number  of  the  parties  present  to  openly 
revolt  against  the  nomination.  The  question  had  been 
considered  very  fully,  and  Quay  took  the  lead  in  declar- 
ing that  the  party  could  not  survive  the  domination 
that  Geary's  election  would  bring,  and  he  was  most 
urgent  in  favoring  revolutionary  action;  but  better 
counsels  prevailed,  which  finally  decided  that  it  was 
necessary  for  the  Republicans  to  carry  the  State 
regardless  of  the  candidate  for  Governor,  and  of  any 
personal  domination  that  might  rule,  as  if  the  Demo- 
crats carried  the  State  the  reconstruction  policy  of 
President  Johnson  would  be  greatly  strengthened  and 
might  be  finally  accomplished.  Geary  and  I  parted 
with  our  attitudes  toward  each  other  very  well  under- 
stood. He  knew  that  I  would  heartily  support  him 
for  reasons  in  no  way  relating  to  the  candidate,  and 
with  that  he  was  quite  satisfied.  He  also  knew  that 
I  distrusted  his  assurances  that  he  would  make  a 
Republican  administration  and  administer  it  on  a 
plane  above  all  factional  interests,  and  as  he  never 
intended  to  give  such  an  administration  both  of  us 
knew  that  nobody  was  cheated. 

Although  the  election  of  Geary  meant  a  State  admin- 
istration with  which  I  was  likely  to  have  little  sym- 
pathy and  no  influence  whatever,  I  gave  nearly  my 
whole  time  to  the  campaign,  speaking  with  Geary  at 
the  opening  of  the  battle  at  Shippensburg  and  respond- 
ing to  the  request  of  the  State  committee  to  go  to 
different  sections  of  the  State  until  the  conflict  was 


Of  Pennsylvania 


197 


ended.  I  regarded  it  as  a  most  important  political 
contest  that  was  to  settle,  once  for  all,  whether  the 
logical  fruits  of  the  war  for  which  so  much  blood  and 
treasure  had  been  given  should  be  realized  by  the 
North.  It  is  probable  that  the  Republican  Congress 
would  have  had  the  same  conflict  with  Johnson  if  Penn- 
sylvania had  voted  Democratic  in  1866,  but  that 
struggle  was  the  crucial  test  of  the  willingness  of  the 
loyal  States  of  the  North  to  accept  a  policy  of  recon- 
struction that  restored  to  full  authority  in  the  rebel- 
lious States  those  who  had  battled  to  destroy  the  Union, 
and  who,  in  their  efforts  at  reconstruction,  had  made 
the  condition  of  the  emancipated  slaves  even  worse 
than  it  was  in  the  state  of  slavery. 

As  the  campaign  progressed  the  people  who  had  sup- 
ported the  war  and  who  had  given  the  lives  of  their 
fathers,  sons  and  brothers  with  countless  treasure  to 
save  the  Union,  were  brought  to  a  very  sober  appre- 
ciation of  the  great  issue  involved,  and  next  to  the 
campaign  of  1863,  when  Curtin  was  re-elected,  it  was 
the  most  sober  and  earnest  contest  I  have  ever  wit- 
nessed in  the  State.  Geary,  Cameron  and  Curtin  and 
every  personal  interest  were  practically  forgotten  as 
the  Republican  people  came  face  to  face  with  what 
they  regarded  as  the  final  verdict  to  be  given  by  the 
great  State  for  gathering  the  fruits  which  ripened  at 
Appomattox.  I  had  no  personal  interest  in  political 
affairs,  having  peremptorily  declined  to  be  a  candidate 
for  Congress,  and  confidently  expecting  not  again  to  be 
a  candidate  for  any  political  office,  as  broken  fortune 
and  an  impoverished  community  that  justly  claimed 
my  sympathy  and  aid  made  me  most  desirous  to  de- 
vote my  whole  time  and  efforts  to  private  business 
affairs. 

The  Democrats  nominated  Heister  Clymer,  of  Berks, 
as  their  candidate  for  Governor,  and  he  made  a  very 


Old  Time  Notes 


able  and  aggressive  campaign.  He  was  an  accom- 
plished and  impressive  popular  speaker,  with  graceftil 
manners,  and  one  of  the  most  genial  and  generally 
delightful  of  the  many  men  I  have  met  in  legislative 
duties.  We  had  served  together  in  the  senate,  and 
while  always  on  opposing  political  lines  our  personal 
friendship  was  never  even  strained  in  the  many  im- 
passioned conflicts  we  had  during  the  war.  I  would 
gladly  have  welcomed  him  as  the  Governor  of  the  State 
had  it  been  possible  to  do  so  without  a  sacrifice  that 
could  not  be  measured  in  its  far-reaching  results  in 
shaping  the  reconstruction  of  the  dismembered  States. 
He  fought  his  battle  boldly  in  support  of  the  recon- 
struction policy  of  President  Johnson,  and  until  within 
a  few  weeks  of  the  election  he  was  confident  that  the 
Republican  ranks  would  be  sufficiently  broken  by  the 
power  of  the  National  administration  to  enable  him  to 
succeed.  He  was  heard  in  every  section  of  the  State, 
and  certainly  much  to  his  advantage,  and  as  the  time 
for  action  came  and  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  were  to 
decide  on  the  question  of  the  full  fruition  of  the  issue 
settled  by  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword,  all  individual, 
factional  and  partisan  interests  were  entirely  effaced 
by  the  paramount  question  that  was  squarely  before  the 
people,  and  demanded  solemn  and  final  judgment. 
Geary  was  elected  by  17,178  majority,  being  some  5,000 
less  than  the  Republican  majority  of  the  previous  year. 

Clymer  was  highly  appreciated  by  the  Democracy 
of  Berks,  and  after  his  defeat  for  Governor  he  was 
chosen,  practically  without  opposition,  to  four  con- 
secutive terms  in  Congress,  where  he  stood  in  the  front 
of  the  leaders  of  his  party.  He  came  into  the  State 
senate  just  as  the  Civil  War  began,  when  partisan  and 
sectional  passions  were  greatly  intensified.  He  and 
Welsh,  of  York,  were  the  accepted  leaders  of  the  Demo- 
cratic minority  of  the  body,  numbering  only  six  of  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


thirty-three,  when  Clymer  first  appeared.  The  Repub- 
Hcans  of  the  body  decided  that  the  utmost  courtesy 
should  be  shown  to  the  httle  handful  of  Democrats,  and 
an  agreement  was  reached  between  Finney  and  myself  on 
one  side  and  Clymer  and  Welsh  on  the  other,  by  which 
the  previous  question  should  never  be  called  in  the 
senate.  The  agreement  obviated  all  necessity  for  call- 
ing the  previous  question,  if  accepted  in  good  faith  on 
both  sides.  The  proposition  made  by  the  majority 
was  that  while  in  the  extreme  necessities  of  war  it 
might  be  necessary  at  times  to  legislate  with  great 
promptness  on  most  important  subjects,  there  would  be 
the  fullest  opportunity  given  to  the  minority  to  be 
heard  in  discussion  of  the  question  before  the  body. 
If  the  Democrats  desired  protracted  discussion,  after- 
noon and  night  sessions  would  be  held,  without  limit 
as  to  time,  so  that  there  should  be  the  fullest  expression 
by  the  minority.  That  agreement  was  scrupulously 
maintained  by  both  sides,  and  the  previous  question 
was  never  called  in  the  senate  of  Pennsylvania  during 
the  two  terms  in  which  I  served  as  a  member,  although 
I  had  seen  it  called  seventeen  times  in  one  night  session 
when  I  was  a  member  of  the  house.  On  my  return  to 
the  senate  from  Philadelphia,  in  1872,  the  leaders  of 
both  sides  readily  agreed  to  the  same  condition  as  to 
the  discussion  of  the  passage  of  all  important  measures, 
and  thus  the  necessity  for  the  previous  question  was 
entirely  obviated.  There  was  no  reason  why  a  body 
of  thirty-three  men,  regarded  as  the  first  legislative 
tribimal  of  the  State,  should  summon  the  previous 
question  to  enable  it  to  perform  its  legitimate  duties. 

Clymer  was  a  very  ready  debater,  as  was  his  associate 
leader,  Welsh,  of  York,  but  neither  of  them  was  equal 
to  the  duty  of  realizing  that  old-time  Democracy  had 
expended  its  power,  had  exhausted  its  policy  in  sixty 
years  of  domination,  and  that  it  must  accept  new  con- 


200 


Old  Time  Notes 


ditions  in  the  wonderful  progress  of  events  to  enable  it 
to  maintain  its  mastery.  They  were  both  resolute  in 
their  opposition  to  the  great  industrial  and  commercial 
development  that  began  with  our  fratricidal  conflict. 
It  was  a  new  era,  an  entirely  new  epoch,  with  absolutely 
new  conditions,  new  aims  and  new  duties.  The  Repub- 
lican party,  being  new,  was  born  to  the  mission  of  the 
new  departure,  but  it  was  hard  for  old  Democratic 
leaders  to  understand  that  they  must  advance  their 
standard  or  be  passed  in  the  race  and  left  to  lag  in  the 
rear  of  progress.  It  was  a  hard  lesson  for  any  man  to 
learn  who  had  been  trained  to  the  settled  methods  and 
boasted  policy  of  Democracy  that  had  triumphed  with 
Jefferson  sixty  years  before ;  that  had  extended  the  flag 
first  to  Louisiana,  thence  to  Florida,  thence  to  Texas 
and  then  to  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Pacific  Coast. 

It  was  deemed  the  oracle  of  destiny,  and  it  seemed  to 
have  proved  its  right  to  the  title,  but  mutation  is 
indelibly  stamped  upon  the  political  affairs  of  all  the 
peoples  of  the  world,  and  when  new  and  revolutionary 
advance  became  a  necessity  to  Democratic  leaders,  they 
were  imequal  to  the  duty  and  the  opportunity  and  they 
and  their  party  fell  in  the  race.  The  defeat  of  Clymer 
in  Pennsylvania  practically  decided  that  the  Democrats 
should  be  voiceless  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  dis- 
severed States. 

I  did  not  meet  Geary  again  imtil  after  the  election, 
when  he  happened  to  enter  a  car  at  Harrisburg  in  which 
I  was  seated  on  my  way  to  Philadelphia.  He  was  most 
effusive  in  his  expressions  of  thanks  for  the  earnest 
efforts  I  had  made  to  aid  in  his  election  and  insisted  that 
I  should  name  one  of  his  cabinet  officers.  I  did  not 
doubt  then  that,  however  sincere  he  might  have  been 
at  the  time  he  made  the  proffer,  no  man  I  would  be 
likely  to  name  for  the  cabinet  would  be  appointed.  I 
knew  how  strong  Cameron  was  in  the  advantageous 


Of  Pennsylvania 


20I 


position  he  then  occupied  and  how  thoroughly  he  was 
skilled  in  all  the  methods  of  gathering  the  fullest 
harvest,  and  that  fact  precluded  the  possibility  of 
Cameron's  assent  to  any  one  I  would  have  preferred 
for  a  cabinet  position.  Geary  was  persistent,  however, 
and  claimed  that  I  did  not  appreciate  his  gratitude  for 
the  services  I  had  rendered  to  him.  It  occurred  to 
me,  however,  that  a  man  who  lived  in  my  county,  poor 
in  fortime,  with  a  large  family  dependent  upon  him, 
then  held  the  position  of  messenger  in  the  office  of  the 
secretary  of  the  commonwealth  that  I  had  secured  for 
him.  The  opportunity  seemed  to  be  at  hand  to  save  my 
messenger,  and  I  said  to  the  Governor-elect  that  I 
would  appreciate  it  as  a  favor  if  he  would  have  this 
man  continued  in  his  place,  to  which  he  replied  that  I 
should  notify  the  man  at  once  that  his  continuance  in 
office  was  absolutely  assured. 

I  did  not  personally  meet  the  Governor  until  long 
after  he  had  been  inaugurated,  but  I  had  a  special 
reminder  that  he  was  Governor  and  in  authority  soon 
after  he  entered  the  office  by  the  prompt  dismissal  of 
my  messenger  without  any  complaint  whatever  of  want 
of  fidelity  to  his  duty.  The  cabinet  was  made  by  Cam- 
eron, whose  close  friend,  Senator  Louis  W.  Hall,  of 
Blair,  brought  Cameron  to  favor  the  appointment  of 
Francis  Jordan,  of  Bedford,  to  the  secretaryship  of  the 
commonwealth,  and  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster,  of 
Philadelphia,  was  made  attorney  general.  Jordan 
was  one  of  the  most  competent  and  faithful  men  who 
ever  filled  this  position.  He  was  in  the  senate  in  1855, 
was  among  the  leaders  in  opposition  to  Cameron  for 
senator,  and  most  aggressive  in  his  warfare  upon  Cam- 
eron politics.  He  was  able,  painstaking,  thoroughly 
honest,  and  filled  the  position  for  six  years  without  a 
blemish  upon  his  record. 

Brewster  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  members  of  the 


202 


Old  Time  Notes 


Philadelphia  bar,  but  an  entire  novice  in  politics.  He 
had  important  professional  relations  with  Cameron, 
was  ardently  devoted  to  Cameron  interests,  but  he 
knew  little  about  the  public  men  of  the  State,  and,  un- 
fortunately, because  of  his  inexperience  or  want  of 
familiarity  and  general  intercourse  with  men,  he  ac- 
cepted Cameron's  friendships  and  hatreds  to  a  very 
large  extent  in  estimating  the  men  of  the  State.  In  an 
interview  that  he  gave  to  the  public  soon  after  he  be- 
came attorney  general  he  criticised  me  personally  and 
politically  in  the  keen  invective  he  so  readily  com- 
manded, although  it  was  entirely  without  provocation 
so  far  as  I  have  any  knowledge.  I  had  met  him  only 
casually  on  several  occasions,  and  he  had  no  oppor- 
tunity whatever  to  estimate  me  from  personal  knowl- 
edge. How  this  conflict  culminated  in  his  removal 
from  office  two  years  and  a  half  later  and  how  we 
became  devoted  friends  will  embellish  a  later  chapter. 


of  Pennsylvania 


203 


LXX. 

CAMERON-CURTIN  SENATORIAL 
BATTLE. 

A  Majority  of  Republican  Senators  and  Representatives  Pledged  or 
Instructed  for  Curtin — Cameron  Adroitly  Combined  the  Candidates 
to  Defeat  Quay,  Curtin's  Candidate  for  Speaker — Stevens,  Moore- 
head,  Grow  and  Forney  in  the  Field  with  Cameron — Governor 
Geary  Aggressively  for  Cameron — Cameron  Finally  Controlled  the 
Majority — Quay,  After  a  Conference  with  the  Younger  Cameron 
and  Curtin,  Decided  to  Move  the  Unanimous  Nomination  of  Cam- 
eron After  He  Attained  a  Majority — Quay's  First  Step  Toward 
Affiliation  with  the  Camerons — Republicans  Lose  the  State  in  1867. 

WHEN  the  smoke  of  the  contest  of  1866  had 
cleared  away,  the  leaders  of  both  factions  in 
the  Republican  party  well  understood  the 
situation.  Cowan's  term  in  the  United  States  Senate 
was  about  to  expire,  and  his  successor  to  be  chosen. 
There  was  no  misunderstanding  as  to  who  would  lock 
horns  in  the  contest  for  the  Senatorship,  as  Cameron 
and  Curtin,  the  leaders  of  the  two  factions,  were  by 
general  consent  accepted  as  the  men  who  were  to  make 
the  struggle.  Curtin  had  the  advantage  of  a  much 
larger  measure  of  strength  with  the  Republican  people 
of  the  State,  and  a  clear  majority  of  the  Republican 
senators  and  representatives  elected  to  the  Legisla- 
ture were  either  instructed  or  distinctly  pledged  to 
support  him  for  Senator.  The  Legislature  had  thirty- 
three  Republican  majority  on  joint  ballot — nine  in 
the  senate  and  twenty-four  in  the  house,  and  Ctirtin's 
friends  were  confident  that  they  could  hold  the  majority 
they  had  undoubtedly  chosen. 

Cameron,  however,  in  addition  to  his  consvimmate 


204 


Old  Time  Notes 


skill  as  a  political  manager,  had  greatly  strengthened 
himself  by  having  the  new  Republican  Governor, 
with  his  cabinet,  and  all  the  power  of  his  administra- 
tion, ready  to  give  the  most  aggressive  support  to 
Cameron  in  his  battle  against  Curt  in,  and  the  power  of 
the  Geary  administration  was  sensibly  felt  in  the  Curtin 
lines  before  the  inauguration.  As  an  illustration  of 
the  earnestness  with  which  Geary  supported  Cameron, 
the  case  of  James  W.  Fuller,  of  Catasauqua,  may  be 
cited.  He  had  long  represented  at  Harrisburg  large 
iron,  railroad  and  other  corporate  interests  in  the 
Lehigh  region,  which  employed  him  simply  to  keep 
them  thoroughly  posted  as  to  all  legislative  move- 
ments which  affected  their  interests.  His  stated 
salaries  at  that  time  from  these  various  corporations 
for  his  services  at  Harrisburg  amounted  to  $17,000,  and 
he  had,  by  his  long  acquaintance  with  legislators  and 
experience  in  legislative  business,  become  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  all  legislation.  He  was  an 
earnest  friend  of  Curtin,  and  would  have  been  one  of 
the  most  useful  men  in  the  State  to  Curtin  in  the 
struggle  with  Cameron,  as  Fuller  thoroughly  under- 
stood Cameron's  methods,  and  knew  better  than  any 
other  how  to  counter  against  them. 

It  was  necessary  for  Fuller  to  have  intimate  friendly, 
if  not  confidential,  relations  with  the  authorities  of 
the  State  to  render  the  best  service  to  the  corporate 
interests  he  represented,  and  he  was  notified  before 
the  inauguration  of  Geary  that  if  he  wished  to  main- 
tain his  old  relations  with  the  State  authorities  he 
must  withdraw  from  the  Curtin  forces  and  aid  in  the 
Cameron  contest.  He  presented  the  case  frankly  to 
Curtin,  who  told  him  that  as  it  involved  his  usefulness 
to  his  friends  and  his  means  of  livelihood,  he  could  do 
no  less  than  join  the  Cameron  forces.  He  did  so,  and, 
while  he  was  entirely  faithful  in  all  that  he  assximed  to 


of  Pennsylvania 


205 


perform  for  Cameron,  he  promptly  notified  Curtin  of 
every  Curtin  legislator  who  had  been  wrested  from  the 
Curtin  ranks,  and  just  how,  when  and  where  it  had  been 
done.  Curtin  was  thus  advised  promptly  and  accu- 
rately of  the  defection  that  began  soon  after  the  election 
of  Geary,  by  which  Cameron,  with  his  own  ability  as  a 
political  manager  and  the  power  of  the  administration, 
was  strengthening  himself  at  the  expense  of  Curtin. 
In  this  contest,  that  was  one  of  the  most  memorable 
in  the  history  of  the  State,  J.  Donald  Cameron  for  the 
first  time  came  to  the  front  as  a  political  factor.  He 
had  doubtless  been  an  important  aid  to  his  father  in 
many  previous  struggles,  but  when  the  Legislature 
met  the  younger  Cameron  openly  assumed  the  leader- 
ship and  managed  the  struggle  for  his  father  from 
start  to  finish.  He  had  been  little  known  or  felt  in 
politics,  as  he  always  avoided  ostentatious  participa- 
tion in  anything,  but  he  very  soon  exhibited  the  most 
skillful  and  heroic  methods  of  manipulating  the  Legis- 
lature, and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  his  future 
triumphs  when  he  succeeded  his  father  in  the  Senate 
ten  years  later. 

Colonel  Quay  was  Curtin 's  leader  in  the  house  and 
v/as  then  serving  his  third  term  in  that  body.  He  was 
the  logical  Curtin  candidate  for  speaker  and  as  he  had 
two  years'  experience  in  the  house,  and  was  intimxately 
acquainted  with  all  the  leading  members  of  the  body 
and  of  the  party  in  the  State,  his  election  as  speaker 
was  regarded  by  Curtin 's  friends  as  absolutely  assured. 
He  entered  into  the  contest  in  Quay's  usual  heroic  way 
visited  prominent  men  in  every  section  of  the  State, 
and  had  a  clear  majority  of  the  Republicans  of  the  house 
positively  pledged  to  his  election.  Cameron  saw  that 
with  Curtin  gaining  the  speaker  of  the  house  in  a  man 
so  able  and  skillful  as  Quay,  it  would  be  a  serious  if 
not  a  fatal  blow  to  his  Senatorial  aspirations.  He 


2o6 


Old  Time  Notes 


could  not  have  defeated  Quay  single-handed.  No 
one  of  the  Republican  members  of  the  house  ventured 
to  make  an  earnest  battle  against  Quay  for  the  nomina- 
tion, but  Cameron  made  the  outside  candidates  for 
Senator,  including  Stevens,  Moorehead,  Grow  and 
several  others,  agree  to  a  combination  to  control  the 
speakership  of  the  house,  and  thus  open  the  way  for 
the  defeat  of  Curtin. 

As  Curtin  was  altogether  the  strongest  candidate 
in  the  Legislature,  the  field  naturally  was  ready  to 
join  in  any  movement  to  weaken  him,  each  hoping  that 
if  Curtin  v/as  shorn  of  the  power  of  the  speaker,  he 
might  not  be  able  to  control  a  majority  of  the  caucus, 
and  that  in  the  bitter  fight  that  would  follow  he  would 
be  accepted  to  harmonize  the  party.  This  combina- 
tion was  made  in  which  Stevens  played  an  important 
part.  He  had  no  love  for  either  Curtin  or  Cameron, 
but  cherished  the  hope  that  he  would  be  finally  united 
upon  for  the  Senatorship.  He  visited  Chambersburg 
a  short  time  before  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  and 
made  an  earnest  personal  appeal  to  me  to  aid  in  what 
he  said  was  the  great  ambition  of  his  life.  The  grand 
old  Commoner  was  then  in  feeble  health,  and  his  death 
occurred  some  eighteen  months  later.  He  sent  for 
me  to  come  to  his  room  at  the  hotel  in  Chambersburg, 
where  I  found  him  lying  on  the  bed,  too  weary  to  sit 
up  while  pleading  for  a  six  years'  term  in  the  Senate 
that  all  knew  he  could  not  live  to  finish. 

I  was  very  warmly  attached  to  Stevens  personally, 
and  would  have  made  great  sacrifice  if  it  had  been  in 
my  power  to  serve  him.  He  knew  my  relations  with 
Curtin ;  said  that  he  did  not  expect  me  to  favor  him  as 
against  Curtin,  but  he  believed  that  Curtin  could  not 
be  elected  as  he  knew  the  combination  was  then  made 
to  take  the  control  of  the  house  from  Curtin 's  friends, 
and  wanted  the  assurance  that  if  anything  approaching 


Of  Pennsylvania 


207 


a  deadlock  came  about,  he  should  be  made  the  com- 
promise candidate.  I  appealed  to  him  to  dismiss 
the  thought  of  being  Senator;  reminded  him  that  any 
ordinary  Congressman  might  reasonably  be  ambitious 
to  reach  the  highest  legislative  tribunal  of  the  nation, 
but  for  a  man  who  was  the  confessed  Commoner  of  the 
nation  during  the  greatest  period  of  its  history,  and 
who  was  tmdisputed  and  absolute  leader,  to  accept  a 
seat  in  the  Senate,  would  be  to  give  up  the  highest 
honors  the  nation  can  accord  to  any  one,  and  descend 
to  the  position  of  a  Senator,  where  he  would  be  no 
greater  than  most  of  his  fellows.  I  said  that  the 
position  of  Commoner  was  the  only  one  ever  attained 
by  an  American  statesman  that  could  be  won  solely 
by  imiversally  conceded  ability  and  merit;  that  while 
all  other  great  positions  from  President  down  were 
often  filled  by  accident  or  fortuitous  circumstance,  the 
Commoner  of  the  nation  could  reach  his  pre-eminence 
only  by  his  confessed  omnipotence  in  leadership.  I 
had  hoped  thus  to  break  the  fall  of  Stevens  in  the 
Senatorial  struggle,  but  the  Senatorship  was  his  dream 
by  night  and  his  thought  by  day,  and  candor  com- 
pelled me  to  say  to  him  that  I  did  not  have  a  ray  of 
hope  of  his  success. 

Stevens  co-operated  with  Cameron  to  wrest  the 
control  of  the  house  from  Curtin,  as  he  would  have 
co-operated  with  Curtin  to  wrest  it  from  Cameron 
had  Cameron  been  the  stronger  of  the  two  candidates 
for  Senator,  and  the  combination  finally  decided  on 
Glass,  of  Allegheny,  for  speaker.  Quay  fought  his 
battle  with  all  the  skill  and  courage  that  he  ever  exhib- 
ited when  engaged  in  political  conflict,  but  the  com- 
bination was  too  strong  for  him  and  he  was  defeated. 
While  the  outside  candidates  for  Senator  supposed 
that  they  had  won  something  in  the  skirmish  for  them- 
selves, Cameron  well  understood  that  the  speaker  was 


2o8 


Old  Time  Notes 


his  own  man,  although  taken  from  Moorehead's  county, 
and  when  Glass  was  elected  to  preside  over  the  house, 
with  the  power  of  appointing  committees,  and  the 
general  control  of  the  legislation,  the  victory  was  a 
clean  cut  triumph  for  Cameron  alone. 

The  representative  from  my  own  county,  although 
instructed  to  support  Curtin  by  the  Republican  county 
convention  with  but  three  dissenting  votes,  and  they 
were  given  to  Grow,  became  an  open  supporter  of 
Cameron  before  the  caucus  was  held.  Stevens  con- 
fidently expected  his  vote,  as  he  had  large  interests 
in  the  county  in  his  Caledonia  Iron  Works,  and  had 
greatly  aided  our  representative  in  his  election,  and  he 
as  confidently  coimted  on  the  support  of  the  senator 
from  our  district,  a  resident  of  Gettysburg,  who  was 
a  son  of  one  of  Stevens'  early  and  most  devoted  friends, 
but  he,  too,  was  one  of  the  earliest  converts  to  Cam- 
eron's interests.  Stevens  was  keenly  wounded  by 
the  defection  of  the  senator  from  his  old  home,  and  his 
comment,  made  in  the  grim  bitterness  that  only  Stevens 
could  exhibit,  was:  ''He  must  be  a  changeling;  his 
father  was  an  honest  man."  While  he  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  Curtin  he  was  profoundly  grieved  that  he 
had  been  misled  into  a  combination  on  the  speakership 
that  had  been  planned  wholly  by  Cameron  and  for 
Cameron,  and  that  brought  its  fruits  only  to  Cameron. 

The  Senatorial  contest  convulsed  the  State  for  sev- 
eral weeks  before  the  Legislature  met,  and  during  the 
two  weeks  between  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  and 
the  Senatorial  election  the  struggle  at  Harrisburg 
was  one  of  the  most  bitter  and  desperate  I  have  ever 
witnessed.  Curtin  had  able  and  efficient  managers, 
but  they  were  decidedly  outclass-ed  and  were  no  match 
for  the  Cameron  organization  with  Cameron  and  his 
son  accepting  the  struggle  as  one  of  life  or  death. 
Cameron 's  methods  and  resources  vastly  exceeded  those 


of  Pennsylvania 


209 


of  Curtin.  During  the  entire  contest,  that  I  watched 
day  and  night  with  intense  interest,  and  was  well 
advised  of  every  change  made  in  the  lines,  we  did  not 
succeed  in  making  a  single  break  in  Cameron's  thor- 
oughly organized  forces,  and  each  day  would  bring  to 
us  confidential  reports  of  some  defection  in  our  own 
ranks.  Several  days  before  the  meeting  of  the  caucus 
Curtin  and  those  who  thoroughly  understood  the 
inside  situation  realized  that  Curtin  was  beaten,  and 
beaten  by  Legislators  who  were  openly  violating  their 
solemn  pledge  or  positive  instructions. 

It  was  this  stage  of  the  Senatorial  battle  of  1867 
that  led  to  the  parting  of  the  ways  between  Curtin 
and  Quay.  Quay  was  young,  able,  tireless  and  am- 
bitious, and  the  younger  Cameron  appreciated  his 
possible  future.  I  have  already  stated  in  a  former 
chapter  the  details  of  Cameron's  invitation  to  Quay 
to  confer  on  the  subject  of  the  Senatorial  election,  re- 
sulting in  Quay's  agreement,  with  others,  to  move  to 
make  the  nomination  of  Cameron  unanimous  after 
he  had  obtained  a  majority  of  the  caucus.  He  decided 
to  take  this  action  after  a  conference  with  Curtin  and 
his  closest  friends,  who  informed  him  that  he  could 
not  render  further  service  to  Curtin  beyond  voting  for 
him,  and  that  he  should  decide  for  himself  what  his 
course  should  be  after  the  nomination  was  made. 

Quay's  decision  to  move  to  make  the  nomination 
of  Cameron  unanimous  was  not  inspired  in  any  degree 
by  the  desire  or  purpose  to  separate  himself  from  Cur- 
tin or  his  friends,  but  it  placed  him  in  close  friendly 
relations  with  the  younger  Cameron,  and  political 
events  entirely  beyond  the  control  of  Quay  himself 
logically  led  him  into  closer  relations  with  Cameron. 
Very  early  in  the  first  Grant  administration  it  became 
evident  that  all  who  hoped  for  political  power  or  prefer- 
ment in  Pennsylvania  could  command  it  only  by  co- 
2—  1 4 


2IO 


Old  Time  Notes 


operation  with  the  Cameron  power  of  the  State.  One 
of  the  first  acts  of  President  Grant  was  to  send  Curtin  to 
Russia  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  where  he  remained 
for  more  than  three  years,  and  with  Cameron  in  the 
Senate  and  omnipotent  with  the  Grant  administration, 
the  young  RepubHcans  of  the  State  of  prominence  had 
to  decide  between  moving  along  with  the  Cameron  pro- 
cession and  accepting  absolute  retirement. 

It  was  thus  that  the  way  was  opened  for  Quay  to 
become  one  of  Cameron's  chief  lieutenants  within  a 
very  few  years,  resulting  finally  in  Quay  acquiring 
the  legitimate  succession  to  the  Cameron  power  of  the 
State,  which  he  wielded  with  often  severely  challenged 
but  unbroken  omnipotence  until  his  death.  As  Curtin 
joined  the  Liberal  Republican  forces  against  Grant  in 
1872,  he  practically  severed  his  relations  with  the 
Republican  organization  of  the  State,  and  Quay,  whose 
interests  were  bound  up  in  the  regular  Republican 
organization,  followed  the  party  fiag.  While  he  and 
Curtin  were  thus  led  into  opposition  lines  in  politics. 
Quay  ever  maintained  his  personal  affection  for  Curtin, 
and  when  Curtin  became  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  Congress  in  his  district.  Quay,  who  was  then  lead- 
ing the  party  organization,  scrupulously  avoided  any 
conflict  with  the  interests  of  Curtin  in  his  district,  and 
when  Curtin  contested  the  election  after  his  first  battle 
for  Congress,  Quay  made  earnest  efforts,  under  cover,  to 
have  him  admitted  to  the  House.  There  was  no  element 
of  apostacy  or  perfidy  to  Curtin  in  the  action  taken  by 
Quay.  The  mastery  of  Cameron  in  Pennsylvania  was 
proclaimed  by  the  absolute  control  of  the  State  admin- 
istration, and  his  election  to  the  Senate  by  a  Repub- 
lican Legislature  commanding  the  united  Republican 
support.  He  had  patiently,  tirelessly  and  always 
most  sagaciously,  struggled  during  the  ten  years  of  his 
connection  with  the  Republican  party  to  obtain  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


211 


control  of  its  organization  and  win  the  Senatorship. 
His  struggle  for  political  power  stands  single  and  alone 
in  the  annals  of  Pennsylvania  politics,  starting  with 
little  popular  support  and  violent  opposition,  and 
suffering  defeat  after  defeat,  only  to  rise  up  ready  for 
another  battle.  He  had  twice  wrested  the  United 
States  Senatorship  from  a  Democratic  Legislature, 
and  now,  after  many  humiliating  discomfitures,  he 
asserted  his  omnipotence  in  Republican  leadership, 
and  adorned  himself  with  the  jewel  that  had  inspired 
him  in  every  conflict. 

To  say  that  Cameron's  successes  were  the  result  of 
accidents  which  so  often  appear  to  control  great  politi- 
cal results,  would  be  simply  to  confess  ignorance  of 
the  truth  or  unwillingness  to  accept  it.  Only  a  great 
master  could  have  achieved  as  Cameron  did,  and  his 
plans  were  carried  out  successfully,  not  only  in  his 
own  triumphs,  but  in  making  his  son  his  successor. 
Many  men  who  were  accorded  more  ability  in  public 
affairs,  and  with  a  larger  popular  following,  one  by  one 
fell  in  the  race  before  him.  Defeat  would  bring  them 
despair,  while  to  Cameron  it  only  brought  fresh  inspira- 
tion for  the  struggle.  He  was  re-elected  six  years 
later  without  a  contest,  and,  after  having  served  four 
years  of  his  last  term  he  resigned  his  high  position 
and  named  his  son,  J.  Donald  Cameron,  as  his  successor 
without  a  visible  ripple  on  the  political  surface.  Not 
only  was  Cameron  four  times  elected  to  the  Senate 
by  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  but  his  son,  who 
succeeded  him,  was  also  four  times  elected  to  the  same 
position,  and  the  mastery  that  Cameron  established 
in  the  Senatorial  struggle  of  1867  has  never  been  broken 
in  its  omnipotence  until  the  present  day.  That  such 
political  achievement  could  not  be  attained  by  any 
other  than  a  master  of  masters  in  politics  will  hardly 
be  questioned  by  any  of  ordinary  intelligence.  His 


212 


Old  Time  Notes 


aims  and  his  methods  were  ever  legitim_ate  subjects 
of  criticism,  but  history  records  the  fact  that  he  not 
only  won  the  position  for  himself  and  his  successors, 
but  commanded  the  support  of  the  people  of  one  of 
the  most  intelligent  States  of  the  Union. 

The  Republican  people  of  Pennsylvania  were  not  at 
once  prepared  to  accept  Cameron's  leadership,  and  in 
the  contest  of  1867  that  followed  the  electon  of  Cam- 
eron to  the  Senate  the  party  was  listless  and  refused 
to  respond  to  the  appeals  of  leaders  to  save  the  organiza- 
tion from  disaster.  There  was  only  one  State  officer 
to  elect  in  1867,  that  of  supreme  judge,  and  Henry  W. 
Williams,  of  Allegheny,  who  was  then  serving  by 
appointment  to  fill  a  vacancy,  was  unanmously  nomi- 
nated by  the  Republicans  without  any  exhibition  of 
factional  feeling  in  the  convention.  Although  not  dis- 
turbed by  factional  strife,  it  was  listless  and  perfunc- 
tory in  its  proceedings,  and  the  Democrats  strength- 
ened themselves  by  nominating  Judge  Sharswood, 
of  Philadelphia,  who  stood  in  the  forefront  of  the  great 
jurists  of  the  State,  and  the  Republicans  suffered 
defeat  by  a  small  majority,  although  they  saved  the 
Legislature.  It  was  believed  generally  by  the  Dem- 
ocrats and  by  many  Republicans  that  the  turning 
point  of  Republican  power  in  Pennsylvania  had  been 
reached,  and  that  Cameron  and  the  party  he  then 
controlled  would  be  relegated  back  to  the  minority 
power  of  the  State.  The  Republicans  were  disturbed, 
and  to  some  extent  disintegrated,  by  the  reconstruction 
policy  of  Congress  that  led  several  of  the  Republican 
Senators  to  desert  the  party,  including  Senator  Cowan, 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  party  was  finally  saved  by 
General  Grant  consenting  to  become  its  candidate  for 
President,  and  the  war  of  factions  was  forgotten  in 
Pennsylvania,  as  the  people  rallied  to  honor  the  Great 
Captain  of  our  Civil  War. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


213 


LXXI. 

CURTIN  MINISTER  TO  RUSSIA. 

Republican  State  Convention  of  1868  Overwhelmingly  Anti-Cameron — 
Curtin  Presented  as  Pennsylvania's  Candidate  for  Vice-President — 
The  Author  Chairman  of  the  Delegation  to  the  National  Convention 
— How  Grant  Became  Republican  Candidate  for  President — Colfax 
Nominated  for  Vice-President — Why  Wade  Lost  the  Nomination — 
Curtin  Pressed  for  the  Cabinet — The  Author's  Interview  with  Grant 
on  the  Subject — Curtin  Made  Minister  to  Russia. 

CURTIN  was  greatly  grieved  and  humiliated  by 
his  defeat  for  Senator  in  the  Legislature  of 
1867,  but  he  maintained  himself  with  great 
dignity  and  submitted  in  silence  to  the  wrong  he 
believed  he  had  suffered.  He  received  Governor 
Geary  as  his  successor  in  the  Executive  mansion  with 
generous  hospitality,  although  he  knew  that  Geary 
was  one  of  the  important  factors  in  accomplishing 
his  defeat,  and  he  retired  to  Bellefonte,  where  for  a 
year  or  more  he  lived  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  his 
home  and  friends.  Curtin  possessed  a  most  affec- 
tionate and  sympathetic  nature,  and  the  people  in 
whose  midst  he  had  been  born  and  grown  up  to  reach 
the  highest  honors  of  the  State  were  those  with  whom 
he  loved  to  dwell.  He  was  offered  important  business 
positions,  but,  unlike  most  of  the  ex-Govemors  of 
the  State,  he  could  not  be  tempted  from  the  home  of 
his  kindred  and  friends.  He  and  his  brothers  had 
inherited  what  in  those  days  were  regarded  as  large 
iron  interests  at  his  home,  which  had  long  been  a 
source  of  embarrassment,  but  during  the  war  they 
had  become  largely  profitable;  and  he  gave  a  portion 
of  his  time  to  business  with  his  brothers  in  the  man- 


214 


Old  Time  Notes 


agement  of  their  works.  He  took  no  part  in  the  con- 
test of  1867,  as  Httle  interest  was  felt  by  the  party 
generally,  and  few  even  of  the  most  active  leaders 
were  heard  on  the  stump.  He  reaHzed,  as  did  all  of 
those  well  informed  as  to  the  political  situation,  that 
there  was  great  danger  of  the  RepubHcan  party  being 
wrecked  in  the  Presidential  contest  of  1868.  Penn- 
sylvania had  been  lost  to  the  Republicans  in  1867  by 
the  election  of  the  Democratic  State  ticket,  and  the 
recovery  of  the  RepubHcan  mastery  depended  wholly 
upon  the  unshaped  conditions  of  the  future. 

The  RepubHcan  party  was  saved  in  1868  by  the 
quarrel  between  President  Johnson  and  General  Grant. 
General  Grant  was  not  a  Republican;  he  had  never 
voted  the  Republican  ticket,  and  his  last  vote  for 
President  in  i860  was  for  Breckenridge,  the  radical 
slavery  Democratic  candidate,  although  he  was  a 
resident  of  Illinois,  the  home  of  Douglas.  He  had 
never  given  any  expression  of  his  acceptance  of  the 
Republican  faith,  nor  of  his  desire  or  purpose  to  act 
in  harmony  with  it.  He  was  stubbornly  silent  in 
politics,  and  the  Democrats  shrewdly  decided  to  make 
him  their  candidate  for  President,  feeling  confident 
that  with  him  as  their  standard  bearer  they  could 
certainly  win,  and  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that 
if  Grant  had  accepted  the  Dem.ocratic  nomination, 
as  was  at  one  time  more  than  possible,  he  would  have 
been  elected  and  the  Republican  party  overthrown. 
I  do  not  suppose  that  he  would  have  made  a  radical 
Democratic  President,  but  he  would  have  carried  out 
the  policy  of  reconstruction  on  the  generous  and  chiv- 
alrous lines  that  he  first  taught  the  cotmtry  in  his  terms 
accorded  to  Lee  at  Appomattox.  He  had  decided,  as 
he  then  believed  irrevocably,  never  to  accept  a  political 
position.  He  had  no  taste  for  civil  duties,  and  little 
acquaintance  with  them.    He  held  the  highest  posi- 


of  Pennsylvania 


tion  ever  held  by  any  one  in  the  army,  a  rank  at  that 
time  accorded  only  to  Washington  and  himself,  with 
the  right  to  retire  without  diminution  of  salary;  but 
Grant,  like  all  other  men,  was  human,  and  when  the 
Presidency  appeared  to  be  clearly  v/ithin  his  reach, 
even  with  all  his  general  stability  of  purpose,  he  was 
unequal  to  the  task  of  refusing  the  highest  civil  trust 
of  the  world.  Had  he  done  so  he  would  have  been 
the  only  man  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  of  whom 
such  a  story  could  be  told. 

When  Johnson  decided  to  remove  Stanton  from  the 
War  Office  in  disregard  of  the  tenure-of-office  law, 
he  called  Grant  to  act  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim, 
fully  confiding  in  Grant  as  Democratic  in  sympathy, 
and  as  certain  to  co-operate  with  the  President.  The 
President  claimed  that  when  Grant  accepted  the 
position  he  gave  the  assurance  that  if  the  Senate 
refused  to  assent  to  the  removal  of  Stanton  he  would 
not  surrender  the  office,  but  would  require  Stanton 
to  fight  his  battle  to  regain  the  position  from  the  out- 
side; but  when  Grant  was  officially  notified  that  the 
Senate  had  refused  to  concur  in  the  removal  of  Stanton 
and  Stanton  appeared  to  claim  the  office.  Grant  at 
once  quietly  gave  him  possession  and  returned  to  his 
army  headquarters.  The  President  was  greatly  in- 
flamed at  the  action  of  Grant,  and  publicly  denounced 
him  as  having  been  guilty  of  perfidy  in  surrendering 
the  office  to  Stanton,  to  which  Grant  made  answer 
that  he  had  given  no  such  pledge,  and  that  it  was  his 
duty  as  a  soldier  to  obey  the  law.  The  controversy 
became  exceedingly  bitter,  and  the  entire  cabinet 
joined  in  a  statement  over  their  signatures  sustaining 
the  President,  thus  practically  proclaiming  Grant  as 
guilty  not  only  of  violating  his  solemnly  plighted 
faith  to  the  President,  but  also  of  falsehood. 

The  Republicans  at  once  came  to  the  support  of 


2l6 


Old  Time  Notes 


Grant  in  the  most  aggressive  manner,  and  it  was  during 
this  tempestuous  season,  in  which  Grant  was  vindic- 
tively assailed  by  the  administration  and  the  Dem- 
ocrats, that  he  first  entertained  the  proposition  to 
accept  the  Presidency.  He  hesitated  long  before  he 
gave  his  final  consent.  Many  leading  Republicans 
called  upon  him  personally  and  urged  his  acceptance 
of  the  Republican  nomination,  but  the  man  who 
finally  succeeded  in  obtaining  his  consent  to  accept 
the  Republican  nomination  for  President  was  Colonel 
Forney.  He  had  many  conferences  with  Grant  on 
the  subject,  but  he  finally  obtained  from  Grant  the 
positive  assurance  that  he  would  not  decline  the  Repub- 
lican nomination  if  tendered  to  him,  making  the  con- 
dition, however,  that,  as  he  was  giving  up  one  of  the 
most  lucrative  positions  under  the  government  that 
lasted  for  life,  he  should  be  accorded  two  terms  of 
the  Presidency.  I  had  the  details  of  these  conferences 
from  Colonel  Forney  himself,  and  he  was  greatly 
amused  at  Grant's  appearance  as  a  complete  novice 
in  politics  by  asking  from  Colonel  Forney  the  assurance 
that  he  should  have  two  terms  of  the  Presidency — 
an  assurance  that  no  man  or  combination  of  men 
could  reasonably  give  to  a  Presidential  candidate 
under  any  conditions. 

From  the  day  that  Grant's  acceptance  of  the  Presi- 
dential nomination  was  announced,  no  other  name  was 
discussed  in  Republican  circles,  and  the  Republican 
leaders  of  the  country  at  once  organized  the  party, 
confident  that  with  Grant  they  could  surely  win  and 
restore  Republican  power  in  the  Nation.  Curtin  was 
one  of  the  first  to  come  to  the  front  in  Pennsylvania 
to  reinspire  the  party  for  a  successful  battle,  and  at 
an  informal  conference  of  a  number  of  his  friends  held 
in  Philadelphia  early  in  the  spring  of  1868,  it  war. 
decided  to  bring  him  out  as  Pennsylvania's  candidate 


of  Pennsylvania 


217 


for  the  Vice-Presidency.  Grant,  the  candidate  for 
President,  was  from  the  West,  from  Illinois,  and  it  was 
reasonable  to  assume  that  the  second  place  on  the 
ticket  would  be  given  to  the  East.  The  announcement 
of  Curtin's  name  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-President 
called  out  the  old-time  earnestness  and  enthusiasm 
that  he  had  inspired  in  his  previous  contests,  and 
Cameron  was  also  aroused  to  active  hostility,  as  the 
presentation  of  Curtin  for  Vice-President  would  be  a 
measurable  vindication  of  him  after  his  defeat  for 
Senator  the  year  before.  The  contest  for  the  control 
of  the  State  convention  was  most  animated.  Curtin's 
friends  rallied  to  his  support  in  the  most  aggressive 
manner,  and  soon  had  a  tidal  wave  in  Curtin's  favor 
that  defied  all  the  efforts  of  Cameron  to  control.  The 
Republicans  generally  felt  that  the  State  had  been 
lost  in  1867  solely  by  the  fact  that  Cameron  had  become 
absolute  master  of  the  party  organization,  and  with 
Grant  as  a  candidate  for  President,  whose  election 
could  hardly  be  doubted,  they  vv^ere  earnest  and  enthu- 
siastic in  the  effort  to  regain  Republican  supremacy 
in  the  State,  and  to  give  the  most  complete  vindication 
to  Curtin. 

The  State  convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia  in 
the  Academy  of  Music,  and  was  largely  attended,  out- 
side of  the  full  complement  of  delegates.  It  was  the 
last  political  State  convention  in  which  I  served  as 
a  delegate.  The  opponents  of  Curtin  were  few  in 
number  but  desperate  in  purpose.  They  exhausted 
their  efforts  to  weaken  in  some  degree  the  completeness 
of  Curtin's  nomination,  but  they  were  met  defiantly 
and  unhorsed  at  every  step,  resulting  in  a  practically 
solid  delegation  to  support  Curtin  for  Vice-President. 
The  opposition  to  Curtin  did  not  present  a  Cameron 
man  as  his  competitor,  but  gave  their  support  to 
Galusha  A.  Grow,  who  was  not  a  Cameron  partisan 


2l8 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  who  afterward,  by  the  action  of  the  Curtin 
forces  which  controlled  the  convention,  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Republican  State  committee.  When 
it  is  stated  that  I  was  unanimously  elected  chairman 
of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  to  the  National  con- 
vention, it  need  hardly  be  said  that  Cameron's  influence 
•was  not  then  seriously  felt  at  home,  but  he  was  in  a 
position  of  great  power  and  doubtless  did  much  to 
prevent  the  support  of  Curtin  by  delegations  from 
other  States.  He  had  been  Senator  and  cabinet 
officer;  had  close  relations  with  many  of  the  Repub- 
lican Senators  who  could  readily  influence  their  States 
against  Curtin;  and  when  we  reached  Chicago  and 
entered  the  struggle  for  the  nomination  of  our  candidate 
for  the  second  place,  we  soon  discovered  that  we  were 
involved  in  a  hopeless  battle. 

The  impeachment  trial  of  President  Johnson  was 
in  progress  for  some  weeks  before  the  convention  met; 
and  the  judgment  of  the  Senate  acquitting  him  for 
want  of  a  single  vote  to  make  two-thirds  favorable  to 
his  conviction  was  announced  to  the  Pennsylvania 
delegation  when  on  its  way  to  Chicago,  and  within  a 
few  hours  of  that  place.  It  was  confidently  expected 
when  the  impeachment  trial  began  that  the  President 
would  be  convicted  and  removed  from  office,  and  that 
Senator  Wade,  President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate, 
would  become  President  for  the  period  of  eight  months. 
Wade  had  lost  his  re-election  to  the  Senate  by  the 
Democrats  carrying  his  State  the  year  before,  and  he 
at  once  became  a  candidate  for  Vice-President.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  individual  strength  in  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  as  it  was  believed  that  he  would  con- 
trol the  entire  patronage  of  the  government  for  eight 
months  before  the  new  Republican  President  would 
come  in,  his  nomination  for  Vice-President  was  accepted 
as  certain.    Had  the  Senate  delayed  its  final  judg- 


of  Pennsylvania 


2ig 


ment  in  the  impeachment  case  a  week  longer,  Wade 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  nominated  for  Vice- 
President,  solely  because  of  the  power  he  was  expected 
to  wield  for  eight  months  as  President. 

When  the  acquittal  of  Johnson  was  announced, 
Wade's  candidacy  suddenly  became  absolutely  hope- 
less. He  was  not  personally  popular  because  of  his 
brusque  and  often  offensive  methods  of  expression, 
and  a  large  majority  of  those  who  supported  him  for 
Vice-President  did  it  solely  because  he  was  expected 
to  succeed  Johnson  as  President.  His  friends  made  a 
gallant  struggle  for  him,  however,  but  his  defeat  was 
known  to  all  as  inevitable.  He  received  147  votes 
on  the  first  ballot  and  rose  to  206,  but  on  the  last  ballot 
he  fell  to  38,  when  Colfax  received  549.  Curtin  had 
little  chance  for  gathering  any  strength  from  the  sur- 
rounding States,  as  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts; 
Senator  Fenton,  of  New  York;  Speaker  Colfax,  of 
Indiana,  with  Wade,  of  Ohio,  held  all  the  States  sur- 
rounding Pennsylvania  as  their  local  candidates.  Cur- 
tin received  51  votes  on  the  first  ballot  and  fell  to  40 
on  the  third,  when  his  name  was  withdrawn  and  his 
supporters  generally  went  to  Colfax. 

Colfax  was  in  a  fortunate  position  to  be  the  second 
choice  of  a  large  majority  of  the  delegates.  He  repre- 
sented the  younger  and  more  vital  element  of  the  party, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  genial  and  delightful  of  men 
and  an  eloquent  and  impressive  speaker.  His  State 
was  regarded  as  one  of  the  debatable  pivotal  States  of 
the  Union,  and  he  was  entirely  free  from  the  opposition 
of  faction  at  home  or  elsewhere.  The  nomination  of 
Grant  was  made  unanimously,  of  course,  every  vote 
in  the  convention  being  recorded  for  him  when  the  roll 
was  called,  and  when  the  result  was  announced  a  cur- 
tain was  raised  on  the  rear  of  the  platform  exhib- 
iting an  immense  full-length  portrait  of  the  great 


220 


Old  Time  Notes 


chieftain,  which  brought  the  convention  and  the  large 
audience  attending  it  at  once  to  their  feet  cheering  it 
to  the  echo. 

Curtin  at  once  came  to  the  front,  and  was  conspicu- 
ous in  the  battle  from  the  opening  of  the  campaign 
to  its  close.  He  spoke  in  different  sections  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  was  called  to  Indiana  and  other  States 
where  special  effort  was  needed,  and  Grant  was  known 
to  cherish  a  very  high  appreciation  of  Curtin 's  services. 

Pennsylvania,  Indiana  and  Ohio  were  yet  States 
which  held  their  State  elections  in  October,  and  the 
Presidential  battle  was  fought  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Indiana,  as  it  always  had  been,  on  the  State  ticket  in 
October,  as  the  result  at  the  State  election  decided  the 
electoral  vote  of  the  State  in  November.  General 
Hartranft,  who  was  then  auditor  general  of  the  State, 
was  unanimously  nominated  by  the  Republicans  for 
re-election.  The  Democrats  nominated  Charles  E. 
Boyle,  one  of  the  ablest  of  their  State  leaders,  as  his 
competitor.  The  October  States  were  earnestly  con- 
tested by  the  Democrats.  Their  triumph  in  Pennsyl- 
vania the  year  before,  and  the  nomination  of  Horatio 
Seymour  as  their  candidate  for  President,  who  was 
admittedly  one  of  their  ablest  and  strongest  men, 
made  them  hopeful  that  with  the  aid  of  the  Johnson 
administration  they  could  defeat  Grant.  Pennsyl- 
vania was  contested  with  desperation,  and  the  largest 
Democratic  vote  brought  out  that  had  ever  been 
polled,  but  Hartranft  was  re-elected  by  nearly  10,000 
majority.  In  Indiana  the  Democrats  had  their  strong- 
est leader,  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  at  the  head  of  their 
ticket,  for  Governor,  a  man  who  always  could  com- 
mand more  than  the  distinct  Democratic  vote  of  the 
State.  They  confidently  expected  to  carry  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Indiana  in  October,  and  thus  forecast  the 
election  of  Seymour  in  November,  but  with  all  the  con- 


of  Pennsylvania 


2  21 


fidence  and  well-directed  and  enthusiastic  efforts  that 
were  made  for  Hendricks  in  Indiana,  he  was  beaten  for 
Governor  by  a  little  less  than  a  thousand  votes. 

Thus  the  pivotal  October  States,  after  the  Democrats 
had  exhausted  their  resources  for  the  contest,  declared 
for  the  Republicans,  and  there  was  practically  little  or 
no  contest  for  the  Presidency  thereafter.  The  Dem- 
ocrats of  New  York  determined  to  vindicate  Seymour. 
He  was  their  greatest  and  most  beloved  leader,  and  they 
gave  him  just  even  10,000  majority  in  the  State  by 
an  immensely  developed  majority  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  At  the  November  election  Pennsylvania  gave 
nearly  30,000  for  Grant,  and  Indiana  came  up  with 
nearly  7,000  Republican  majority,  giving  Grant  a  very 
large  majority  alike  in  the  Electoral  College  and  in  the 
popular  vote. 

Immediately  after  the  election  of  Grant  it  was 
decided  by  a  number  of  Curtin's  friends  to  propose  his 
appointment  for  a  cabinet  position.  Curtin  did  not 
regard  the  movement  with  special  favor,  as  he  knew 
that  if  he  entered  the  cabinet  with  Cameron  in  the 
Senate  there  would  be  a  most  unfortunate  and  contin- 
uous conflict  to  vex  the  administration  in  the  dis- 
posal of  Pennsylvania  patronage;  but  without  any 
concerted  movement  a  number  of  the  leading  Repub- 
licans of  the  State  strongly  urged  Grant  to  appoint 
Curtin  as  one  of  his  cabinet  advisers.  Among  them 
was  Judge  Read,  of  our  supreme  court,  who  called  at 
my  office  in  Philadelphia,  where  I  had  become  a  resi- 
dent in  the  latter  part  of  1868,  and  handed  me  a  letter 
addressed  to  General  Grant,  requesting  me  to  deliver 
it  in  person  as  soon  as  I  could  visit  Washington.  He 
did  not  state  its  contents,  and  a  few  days  thereafter 
I  was  in  Washington  and  called  upon  General  Grant 
at  army  headquarters  and  delivered  the  letter.  He 
received  me  very  kindly,  and,  after  a  brief  conversa- 


222 


Old  Time  Notes 


tion,  without  any  reference  to  politics,  I  rose  to  take 
my  leave. 

By  the  time  I  reached  the  door  he  had  opened  the 
letter,  and  saw  that  it  related  to  Curtin's  appointment 
as  a  cabinet  officer,  and  he  called  me  back.  He  in- 
formed me  that  the  letter  urged  him  to  appoint  Curtin 
to  his  cabinet,  and  he  desired  to  say  to  me  as  one  of 
Curtin's  close  friends,  that,  while  he  had  a  very  high 
appreciation  of  Curtin's  ability  and  character,  he 
meant  to  appoint  his  cabinet  officers  entirely  in  con- 
formity with  his  own  personal  v^^ishes,  as  it  was  his 
official  family,  and  he  felt  that  he  should  be  free  to 
select  men  chiefly  with  reference  to  their  acceptability 
to  himself.  I  had  heard  that  he  meant  to  appoint 
Mr.  Borie,  of  Philadelphia,  to  the  cabinet,  who  was  a 
most  estimable  gentleman,  but  an  entire  novice  in 
political  or  official  affairs,  and  would  be  practically 
valueless  to  the  administration  because  of  his  want 
of  knowledge  of  public  men  and  public  duties.  I 
answered  the  General  by  saying  that  he  certainly  had 
the  right  to  appoint  a  cabinet  entirely  acceptable  to 
himself,  but  that  he  should  remember  that  cabinet 
officers  were  representative  public  men,  and  that  the 
success  of  his  administration  depended  very  largely 
upon  their  strength  before  the  country.  Grant  then 
clearly  had  the  idea  that  a  political  administration 
could  be  run  like  an  army,  by  regulation  orders,  and 
I  saw  that  he  did  not  receive  kindly  the  suggestion 
I  made  as  to  the  necessity  of  strengthening  his  admin- 
istration by  cabinet  appointments,  as  he  replied  with 
evident  feeling  on  the  subject. 

I  was  greatly  disappointed  at  this  feature  of  Grant's 
idea  of  statesmanship,  and  with  careful  courtesy  said 
to  him  that  if  I  were  suddenly  called  to  the  head  of 
the  army  without  military  experience,  I  would  realize 
that  my  first  great  need  would  be  generals,  and  that 


Of  Pennsylvania 


223 


it  was  no  discredit  to  him  when  called  to  the  highest 
civil  position  of  the  country  without  experience  in 
civil  affairs,  to  say  that  his  great  need  would  be  states- 
men. Grant  suddenly  closed  the  discussion  in  evident 
irritation,  and  I  never  again  visited  him  during  his 
eight  years  of  the  Presidency. 

I  had  been  compelled  to  change  my  residence  from 
Chambersburg,  where  lingered  the  warmest  affections 
and  sympathies  of  my  life,  to  Philadelphia,  because  I 
was  utterly  bankrupted  by  the  destruction  of  the  town, 
and  I  meant  to  devote  myself  strictly  to  my  profession 
and  take  no  further  part  in  politics  after  the  election 
of  Grant.  I  had  no  political  aspirations  whatever, 
and  as  I  felt  that  I  could  not  afford  to  struggle  for 
political  promotion  even  if  I  desired  it,  I  left  the  Presi- 
dent-elect with  no  regret  that  I  had  offended  him  by 
telling  him  the  truth  that  he  was  unwilling  to  accept, 
but  would  be  compelled  to  accept  sooner  or  later. 
Curtin  felt  no  disappointment  when  the  cabinet  was 
announced  without  his  name  being  in  its  list;  and  he 
was  confident  from  expressions  received  not  only 
from  Grant  himself,  between  the  period  of  his  election 
and  inauguration,  but  especially  from  assurances  given 
by  Representative  Elihu  B.  Washburne,  who  was 
early  announced  as  the  premier  of  the  new  cabinet, 
that  Grant  would,  in  some  way,  emphasize  his  regard 
for  Curtin,  which  he  did  among  his  first  official  acts 
after  his  inauguration,  by  nominating  Curtin  as  Min- 
ister to  Russia. 

I 


224 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXII. 

JOHN  SCOTT  ELECTED  SENATOR. 

The  Senatorial  Contest  Shrewdly  Managed  by  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott — ■ 
When  the  Legislature  Met  No  Contest  for  Senator  Developed — John 
Scott  Unanimously  Nominated — Elected  by  the  Solid  Vote  of  His 
Party — Scott's  Creditable  Record  in  the  Senate — Keeping  within 
Party  Lines  He  Followed  His  Own  Convictions — Curtin  Went  to 
Russia  Knowing  that  It  was  Political  Banishment — Honors  Show- 
ered upon  Curtin  before  His  Departure. 

IN  the  State  contest  of  1868  the  Republicans  carried 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  but  by  somewhat 
reduced  majorities.  The  senate  stood  18  Republi- 
cans to  15  Democrats,  and  the  Republicans  had  24 
majority  in  the  house,  giving  them  27  on  joint  ballot. 
The  term  of  Buckalew  as  United  States  Senator  was 
about  to  expire,  and  there  was  very  general  surprise 
that  the  half  dozen  or  more  men  who  had  so  earnestly 
struggled  for  the  coveted  position  two  years  before  in 
the  celebrated  Cameron-Curtin  contest,  did  not  enter 
the  race.  True,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  the  ablest  of  them 
all,  had  crossed  the  dark  river,  and  while  a  number 
were  more  than  willing  to  make  a  contest  for  the  Sena- 
torship  if  they  could  have  met  with  any  encourage- 
ment in  doing  so,  it  was  very  early  discovered  by  all 
that  the  position  was  irrevocably  disposed  of  before 
the  Legislature  met. 

Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott  had  then  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  both  State  and  National  politics, 
and  was  greatly  interested  in  our  transcontinental 
railway  system.  He  had  been  for  a  period  president 
of  the  Northern  Pacific,  and  later  had  undertaken 
the  Herculean  task  of  constructing  the  Texas  Pacific, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


22$ 


expecting  the  aid  of  a  government  subsidy  such  as 
had  been  given  to  the  Central  and  Northern  Hnes. 
He  wanted  a  man  of  the  highest  character,  abihty  and 
integrity  to  represent  Pennsylvania  in  the  Senate, 
and  one  who  would  take  an  active  interest  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  country.  He,  and  he  alone,  accom- 
plished the  election  of  John  Scott,  of  Huntingdon, 
by  the  Republican  Legislature  of  1869.  Although 
bearing  the  same  name,  there  was  no  blood  relationship 
between  the  families. 

John  Scott  was  then  confessedly  the  leader  of  the 
bar  in  interior  Pennsylvania,  and  was  connected  pro- 
fessionally with  the  great  railway  line  of  the  State. 
He  was  a  man  of  admitted  ability,  tireless  energy  and 
unblemished  reputation.  Pie  was  not  in  any  sense 
a  politician,  and  knew  little  or  nothing  about  the 
political  methods  by  which  men  advance  themselves 
to  political  distinction.  Pie  had  been  prominent  in 
Pennsylvania  politics  as  a  Democrat,  and  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Democratic  State  convention  of  1852, 
where  he  led  the  opposition  to  Buchanan's  nomina- 
tion for  President  and  was  the  author  of  the  formal 
protest  presented  to  the  convention  by  nearly  or  quite 
one-third  of  the  delegates,  declaring  against  Buchanan's 
availability  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President. 
When  the  Civil  War  came  he  was  a  pronounced  loyalist, 
and  he  accepted  the  Republican  or  Union  nomination 
for  the  Legislature  in  Huntingdon  County,  in  1861, 
and  was  one  of  the  half  dozen  War  Democrats  of  the 
body  who  held  the  balance  of  power  in  the  house 
during  that  session,  and  co-operated  very  cordially 
with  the  Republicans  in  support  of  the  war.  He  did 
not,  however,  separate  himself  from  his  Democratic 
affiliations,  and  he  was  the  unsuccessful  candidate  of 
that  party  for  State  senator  in  1863;  but  in  1864  he 
joined  ex-Speaker  Cessna,  of  Bedford,  the  Rowes, 


2—15 


226 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  Franklin,  General  Hartranft,  of  Montgomery,  and 
a  number  of  other  War  Democrats  in  support  of  Lin- 
coln, and  thereafter  acted  with  the  Republican  party. 

Colonel  Scott  then  understood  the  politics  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  better  than  any  other  one  man 
in  the  Commonwealth.  His  great  trunk  line  was 
extending  its  tributaries  into  almost  every  approach- 
able section  of  the  State,  with  the  very  hearty  co-opera- 
tion of  the  prominent  men  of  all  parties  where  important 
local  improvements  were  to  be  made,  and  his  relations 
with  the  controlling  men  of  the  State  in  both  parties 
were  such  that  it  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  make 
John  Scott  the  candidate  for  Senator  and  have  his 
election  assured  before  the  Legislature  met.  John 
Scott  was  nominated  by  a  practically  unanimous 
vote,  and  there  was  not  even  the  semblance  of  a  battle 
against  him.  Fortunately,  he  possessed  every  quality 
essential  for  a  man  to  fill  a  seat  in  the  highest  legis- 
lative tribunal  of  the  nation,  and  while  many  of  the 
more  active  politicians  were  greatly  disappointed  to 
find  a  man  unanimously  nominated  for  Senator  who 
would  have  been  easily  defeated  if  left  to  his  own 
political  resources,  none  could  question  the  fitness  of 
the  selection,  and  I  cannot  recall  another  instance  in 
which  the  party  electing  a  United  States  Senator 
created  and  welcomed  its  candidate  with  such  entire 
unanimity  and  cordiality  as  welcomed  John  Scott, 
and  his  career  in  the  Senate  brought  no  disappoint- 
ment to  his  many  friends. 

He  was  politician  enough  to  know  that  party  inter- 
ests had  to  be  respected,  and  at  times  something 
yielded  to  political  necessities,  but  no  man  ever  served 
a  term  in  the  United  States  Senate  with  a  cleaner 
record  than  that  made  by  John  Scott.  When  issues 
arose  which  appealed  to  his  sense  of  justice,  no  political 
influence  whatever  could  swerve  him  from  his  duty. 


of  Pennsylvania 


227 


I  heard  him  deliver  his  first  speech  in  the  Senate  a  very 
short  time  after  his  admission  to  the  body,  and  it  was 
a  sore  disappointment  to  some  of  the  leaders  of  his 
party,  who  believed  that  the  end  always  justifies  the 
means  in  politics.  A  young  Pennsylvania  clerk  had 
gone  westward  some  years  before  to  grow  up  with  the 
country,  and  was  successful  in  acquiring  position  and 
fortune.  He  wielded  his  power  without  regard  to 
the  lawfulness  of  his  methods,  and  elected  himself 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  had  served  for 
one  or  more  sessions. 

The  Senate  was  petitioned  to  inquire  into  the  integ- 
rity of  his  commission,  but  it  was  generally  expected 
that  it  would  be  disposed  of  in  some  one  of  the  regula- 
tion ways  which  had  usually  been  adopted  to  avoid 
the  expulsion  of  a  Senator  for  improper  methods  in 
securing  his  election.  It  was  this  question  that  called 
out  Senator  Scott  to  make  his  first  deliverance  in  the 
body,  and  although  powerful  influences  had  been 
employed  to  restrain  him  from  aggressive  attack  upon 
the  assailed  Senator,  he  delivered  an  argument  that  was 
absolutely  unanswerable,  and  was  presented  with  such 
dignity  and  manliness  that  none  attempted  to  dispute 
it.  The  result  was  that  the  assailed  Senator,  who 
until  then  confidently  expected  that  the  investigation 
into  his  case  would  be  merely  perfunctory,  and  that 
he  would  not  be  disturbed  in  his  seat,  resigned  shortly 
thereafter  and  never  again  appeared  in  public  life. 

General  Cameron  was  then  the  senior  Senator  from 
the  State,  and  he  had  very  cordially  co-operated  with 
Colonel  Scott  in  the  election  of  Senator  Scott.  Cam- 
eron knew  that  Scott  would  not  permit  himself  to  be 
vexed  about  the  patronage  of  the  National  administra- 
tion in  Pennsylvania,  as  Scott  had  little  acquaintance 
with  the  politicians  or  their  respective  merits,  and  had 
even  less  inclination  to  assume  responsibility  in  the 


228 


Old  Time  Notes 


struggles  of  contending  applicants  for  Federal  positions. 
Scott's  election  to  the  Senate  gave  Pennsylvania  an 
able,  brave,  conscientious  and  faithful  Senator,  and 
left  the  patronage  of  the  Grant  administration,  that 
was  then,  as  now,  indispensable  to  maintain  a  party- 
organization,  entirely  to  Cameron. 

When  Curtin's  nomination  was  sent  by  President 
Grant  to  the  Senate  for  Minister  to  Russia,  Cameron 
was  anxious  to  defeat  his  confirmation,  but  while  Scott 
knew  that  he  was  to  some  extent  at  least  indebted  to 
Cameron  for  his  election,  and  was  in  no  measure 
indebted  to  Curtin,  who  had  simply  been  unfelt  in 
the  contest,  he  at  once  declared  that  a  man  of  Curtin's 
ability  and  services  rendered  to  the  State  should  not  be 
stricken  down  by  a  Republican  Senate,  and  expressed 
his  purpose  to  make  an  earnest  battle  for  Curtin's 
confirmation  if  opposition  developed.  The  result  was 
that  Cameron  yielded  to  Scott  and  Curtin  was  unani- 
mously confirmed.  Notwithstanding  Senator  Scott's 
service  was  during  a  period  of  unusual  political  activity, 
he  never  exhibited  any  interest  in  political  manage- 
ment and  never  sought  to  shape  political  affairs  in 
his  State.  He  knew  that  it  was  a  lesson  he  could  not 
learn  sufficiently  to  make  him  a  leader  in  the  rough-and- 
tumble  struggle  for  mastery  in  State  politics,  and  he 
was  wisely  content  to  perform  his  Senatorial  duties 
with  unbroken  dignity  and  scrupulous  fidelity. 

His  disregard  of  political  affairs  and  independent 
action  on  all  occasions  did  not  commend  him  to  the 
politicians  of  his  party  in  the  State,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  six-year  term,  when  the  Democrats  had 
possession  of  the  Legislature  and  chose  William  A. 
Wallace  as  his  successor,  the  State  leaders  denied  him 
the  empty  compliment  of  a  renomination,  although  no 
man  v/ho  had  served  Pennsylvania  in  the  Senate  for 
many  years  was  more  justly  entitled  to  it.    It  was 


Of  Pennsylvania 


229 


decided,  however,  that  such  men  were  not  wanted  in 
the  political  management  that  then  prevailed,  and 
Quay  and  the  younger  Cameron  who  then  had  abso- 
lute control  of  the  organization,  gave  ex- Congressman 
John  Allison,  of  Beaver,  the  honor  of  being  nominated 
for  United  States  Senator,  only  to  be  defeated  by  the 
Democratic  candidate.  Soon  after  Senator  Scott  re- 
tired from  the  Senate  he  located  in  Philadelphia  and 
became  general  solicitor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company,  a  position  that  he  held  and  filled  with  great 
credit  until  his  death. 

The  Democrats  of  the  Legislature  nominated  William 
A.  Wallace  for  Senator,  although  Buckalew  had  served 
six  years  with  very  general  acceptability  to  the  party, 
and  he  and  his  friends  naturally  expected  him  to 
receive  the  only  endorsement  that  could  be  given  to 
him  in  1869,  by  casting  the  Democratic  vote  for  him. 
Wallace  had  entered  the  senate  in  1863,  and  soon 
became  the  confessed  leader  of  the  party  in  the  Legis- 
lature. He  was  the  most  accomplished  organizer  the 
Democratic  party  developed  in  his  day,  and  he  decided 
to  take  the  nomination  for  himself  in  1869  to  blaze 
the  way  for  his  election  to  the  Senate  some  time  in 
the  future,  when  the  Democrats  might  gain  a  majority 
of  the  Legislature.  Buckalew  and  his  immediate 
friends  were  not  only  greatly  humiliated  by  this  action 
of  Wallace,  but  it  caused  a  bitter  estrangement  that 
nearly  accomplished  Wallace's  defeat  in  1875,  when 
the  Democrats  had  the  Legislature  and  Wallace  was 
its  nominated  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senator- 
ship.  Buckalew  appeared  at  Harrisburg  and  attempted 
to  fight  out  the  battle  even  by  revolutionary  methods 
to  accomplish  Wallace's  defeat,  but  Buckalew  was  a 
novice  in  political  management  when  forced  to  size 
up  with  Wallace  in  a  struggle,  and  Wallace  finally 
secured  enough  of  the  Buckalew  men  to  accomplish 


230 


Old  Time  Notes 


his  election.  The  estrangement  between  Buckalew 
and  Wallace  remained  unreconciled  until  the  grave 
extinguished  their  resentments. 

When  Curtin  accepted  the  position  of  Minister  to 
Russia,  he  well  understood  all  that  it  implied.  He 
did  not  wish  to  go  to  Russia,  although  it  was  one  of 
the  only  three  first-class  missions  of  the  government. 
He  understood  that  it  was  intended  by  the  President 
to  be  a  compliment  for  the  services  he  had  rendered 
the  State  and  country  and  his  support  of  Grant  in  the 
Presidential  contest,  but  he  well  knew  also  that  it  was 
meant  by  others  to  retire  him  from  the  factional  con- 
flicts of  the  party  in  the  State.  He  knew  that  with 
Cameron  in  the  Senate  serving  a  term  that  would  not 
expire  until  the  end  of  the  first  term  of  the  new  Presi- 
dent, he  could  not  hope  to  make  a  successful  battle 
for  the  support  of  his  friends  with  the  President  when 
every  nomination  of  a  friend  of  Curtin  was  certain  to 
bring  threatened  and  probable  rejection  in  the  Senate. 
For  him  to  remain  at  home  and  battle  against  such 
fearful  odds  was  simply  to  invite  fretful  struggles  and 
repeated  defeats,  and  to  accept  the  position  was  the 
practical  disintegration  of  the  political  organization 
he  had  in  the  State,  and  the  elimination  of  himself 
and  friends  from  mastery  in  the  Republican  organiza- 
tion. He  was  greatly  gratified  at  Grant's  courage  in 
nominating  him  in  the  face  of  Cameron's  protest,  and 
after  mature  reflection  he  felt  that  it  was  his  duty 
to  accept  the  position  and  practically  abandon  all 
attempt  to  control  the  Republican  organization  of 
the  State. 

His  friends  very  generally  approved  of  his  decision, 
and  when  a  large  number  of  them  accompanied  him 
to  New  York  and  bade  him  good-bye  on  board  the 
vessel  when  he  was  about  to  sail  for  St.  Petersburg,  all 
felt  that  they  were  no  longer  important  factors  in 


Of  Pennsylvania 


231 


Pennsylvania  politics.  Most  of  them  were  not  of  the 
place-hunting  class,  and  could  do  quite  as  well,  or 
better,  for  themselves  in  private  pursuits  than  in  seek- 
ing or  even  gaining  political  honors,  but  they  all  felt 
keenly  the  turn  in  political  affairs  that  had  practically 
made  Curtin  and  themselves  voiceless  in  the  great  party 
they  had  earnestly  and  so  successfully  struggled  to 
create,  and  whose  earliest  victories  they  had  won 
following  the  tall  plume  of  their  beloved  chief.  Just 
before  sailing  for  Russia  he  was,  by  the  unanimous 
vote  of  both  branches  of  councils,  tendered  a  public 
reception  in  Independence  Hall,  and  that  was  attended 
by  many  thousands,  and  a  public  dinner  was  given  to 
him  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  with  the  largest  attend- 
ance of  prominent  men  ever  witnessed  at  any  public 
dinner  in  Philadelphia.  The  ablest  Republicans  from 
every  section  of  the  State  were  largely  represented. 
Judge  Thayer  presided,  and  the  career  of  the  great 
War  Governor  was  told  in  eloquent  story  by  half  a 
score  or  more  of  the  leaders  who  had  battled  by  his 
side,  but  a  strain  of  sadness  pervaded  the  raany  fer- 
vent tributes  paid  to  the  man  who  was  the  greatest 
of  all  the  popular  leaders  of  the  State,  and  whose  record 
as  the  great  War  Governor  stood  out  in  matchless 
grandeur. 

The  position  of  Minister  to  Russia  was  practically  a 
sinecure.  Our  relations  with  that  Power  were  of  the 
most  friendly  nature,  and  during  his  more  than  three 
years  of  service  as  Minister  to  the  Court  of  the  Czar, 
he  never  had  a  single  grave  diplomatic  problem  to 
solve.  His  sunny,  genial  ways  made  him  a  great 
favorite  at  the  Russian  court,  and  he  was  accorded  a 
degree  of  confidence  in  Russian  royalty  and  diplomacy 
that  probably  no  other  Minister  to  the  Czar  ever 
enjoyed.  He  was  a  special  favorite  with  Czar  Alex- 
ander, the  grandfather  of  the  present  Czar  Nicholas, 


232 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  the  Czar  commanded  not  only  the  earnest  sym- 
pathy of  Curtin,  but  the  most  sincere  and  earnest 
approbation  of  his  freedom  of  serfs  of  Russia.  So 
highly  did  the  Czar  appreciate  Curtin  as  Minister  that 
he  specially  sat  to  one  of  the  great  artists  of  Russia  for 
a  life-size  portrait  that  was  finished  in  the  highest  style 
of  art,  and  personally  presented  to  Curtin  by  the  Czar 
himself.    It  yet  adorns  the  Curtin  home  in  Bellefonte. 

I  was  in  constant  correspondence  with  Curtin  during 
his  stay  in  London,  and  was  one  of  the  few  to  whom 
he  expressed  his  views  without  restraint.  He,  of 
course,  had  many  letters  from  his  numerous  friends 
throughout  the  State,  and  was  fully  advised  of  the 
progress  of  political  events,  and  the  gradual  com- 
plete mastery  of  the  factional  power  of  the  State  that 
was  implacably  hostile  to  himself  and  his  friends.  He 
was  greatly  fretted  as  he  learned  from  time  to  time 
that  the  open  friends  of  Curtin,  who  entered  the  field 
for  political  preferment  either  in  the  State  or  in  the 
National  administration,  speedily  crossed  the  dead 
line  and  was  mercilessly  crucified,  but  he  was  powerless 
to  aid  them,  and  could  only  sit  in  the  grandeur  of 
Russian  royalty  and  bow  in  sorrow  to  the  sacrifice  of 
those  to  whom  he  was  so  ardently  devoted.  At  the 
end  of  the  first  year  he  decided  to  return  home  and 
share  the  struggle  of  his  friends,  but  they  with  one 
accord  advised  him  that  it  would  be  a  hopeless  conflict, 
and  that  every  consideration  of  poHtical  expediency 
dictated  that  he  should  remain.  He  was  offered  very 
large  pecuniary  compensation  to  become  connected 
with  business  enterprises  of  Americans  in  Russia, 
which  would  have  required  his  resignation  as  Minister, 
but  he  felt  that  as  long  as  he  remained  abroad  he 
would  continue  as  Minister  to  the  Russian  Court. 


of  Pennsylvania 


233 


LXXIII. 

THE  INFAMOUS  REGISTRATION  LAW. 

The  Defeat  of  City  of  Philadelphia  Candidates  in  1868  Made  Mann 
Enforce  the  Enactment  of  the  Registry  Law — Wide  Open  Doors  for 
Fraud  under  Color  of  Law — The  Author's  Earnest  Protest  Against  the 
Movement — Mann  Regained  the  District  Attorneyship  Under  It — 
Interesting  Incidents  in  Halting  Fraud  at  a  Special  Senatorial 
Election. 

THE  political  conditions  developed  in  Philadel- 
phia by  the  election  of  1868  were  well  cal- 
culated to  alarm  the  Republican  leaders. 
With  all  the  personal  strength  that  General  Grant 
brought  to  the  party,  the  Democrats  elected  a  majority 
of  their  ticket  in  the  city,  including  mayor  and  district 
attorney,  by  majorities  ranging  from  1,000  to  1,900. 
Daniel  M.  Fox  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
mayor,  and  General  Tyndale  his  Republican  opponent. 

Tyndale  was  opposed  by  severe  churchmen,  on  the 
ground  that  he  was  not  entirely  orthodox  in  faith, 
and  the  official  returns  showed  about  1,900  majority 
in  favor  of  Fox,  and  Furman  Sheppard  was  returned 
as  elected  district  attorney  by  a  smaller  majority. 
Such  a  disaster  coming  in  a  Presidential  year,  when  the 
full  vote  of  the  party  was  polled  and  the  organization 
supposed  to  be  complete,  gave  little  promise  of  future 
Republican  mastery  in  the  city  that  was  claimed  to 
be  the  great  loyal  city  of  the  nation. 

Colonel  Mann  had  been  nominated  for  district  attor- 
ney by  the  midsummer  convention  of  1868,  but  a  frac- 
tion of  probably  one-fourth  of  the  delegates  in  the  con- 
vention bolted,  organized  a  separate  convention,  and 
nominated  Isaac  Hazlehurst,  a  prominent  RepubHcan 


234  Old  Time  Notes 


of  the  city,  with  the  declared  purpose  of  defeating 
Mann  by  revolutionary  action.  Mann  had  been  assis- 
tant district  attorney  for  two  terms  under  William 
B.  Reed.  He  was  the  Republican  candidate  in  1856 
to  succeed  Reed,  but  the  return  was  given  in  favor  of 
Lewis  C.  Cassidy. 

Mann  contested  the  return,  and  was  awarded  the 
position  by  the  court.  In  1859  he  was  re-elected  with- 
out serious  contest,  and  won  out  for  re-election  again 
in  1862  and  1865.  From  the  time  that  he  succeeded  in 
entrenching  himself  in  the  office  of  district  attorney 
he  became  the  leader  of  the  party  in  the  city,  and  diiring 
his  reign  no  one  ever  ruled  with  more  complete  omni- 
potence, but  all  such  political  power  is  certain  to  pro- 
voke factional  hostility,  alike  from  personal  disappoint- 
ments and  from  those  who  sincerely  protest  against 
the  autocratic  political  methods  by  which  political 
masters  are  often  compelled  to  execute  their  decrees. 

Mann  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  generous  of 
political  leaders,  but  the  fact  that  he  was  omnipotent 
awakened  formidable  jealousies,  and  the  additional 
fact  that  his  political  methods  were  at  times  necessarily 
arbitrary  and  unscrupulous  aroused  bitter  antagonism, 
and  when  he  was  nominated  for  the  fifth  consecutive 
term,  although  the  party  organization  was  strength- 
ened by  a  Presidential  contest,  it  became  evident  that 
he  would  be  defeated.  The  Democrats  nominated 
Furman  Sheppard,  who  was  confessedly  their  strong- 
est man.  He  was  not  only  a  man  of  great  ability, 
but  commanded  the  respect  of  the  entire  community, 
whether  friends  or  foes  in  politics.  After  the  nomina- 
tion of  Sheppard,  the  Republican  leaders  saw  that 
they  were  inviting  a  terrible  disaster  by  permitting 
two  candidates  of  their  party  to  be  in  the  field  for  dis- 
trict attorney,  and  Mann  was  finally  induced  to  decline, 
as  I  have  stated  in  detail  in  a  former  chapter. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


235 


The  disputing  factions  had  agreed  upon  Charles 
Gibbons  as  the  man  upon  whom  all  the  Republican 
belligerents  could  be  harmonized.  Gibbons  was  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  old  Whig  leaders  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  elected  from  the  city  to  the  senate 
as  early  as  1844,  where  he  stood  confessedly  as  the 
ablest  of  the  Whig  leaders  in  the  body,  although  then 
quite  a  young  man.  His  fidelity  to  his  own  convic- 
tions led  him  to  antagonize  Philadelphia  in  the  contest 
between  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  and  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad. 

He  did  not  oppose  the  Pennsylvania  enterprise, 
but  he  insisted  that  if  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  that  had 
first  offered  to  construct  the  line  through  Pennsylvania 
to  Pittsburg,  was  willing  to  complete  a  second  road  to 
the  West,  it  should  have  the  right  to  do  so.  It  was  then 
generally  believed  that  two  such  lines  could  not  be 
sustained  in  the  State,  and  for  his  refusal  to  deny  the 
franchise  to  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  that  he  had  pre- 
viously earnestly  supported  when  it  was  the  only 
organization  that  promised  to  construct  such  a  line, 
he  was  bitterly  denounced  at  home  and  practically 
retired  from  politics  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
He  had  not  been  involved  in  factional  strife,  as  he  took 
little  interest  in  local  politics,  although  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Union  League  and  an  ardent  supporter  of 
the  war.  He  was  not  a  man  who  had  mingled  with  the 
people,  and  lacked  in  the  important  elements  of  per- 
sonal popularity,  although  his  clean  record  commended 
him  very  generally  to  the  voting  public. 

A  very  earnest  effort  was  made  by  the  reunited  party 
to  elect  Gibbons,  but  the  majority  was  against  him, 
and  he  proceeded  to  contest  the  return.  The  case 
was  heard  by  Judge  Brewster,  a  sincere  Republican, 
and  one  of  the  ablest  of  our  common  pleas  judges. 
After  hearing  the  case  very  patiently  he  awarded  the 


236 


Old  Time  Notes 


office  to  Gibbons  by  a  small  majority,  and  Sheppard 
retired,  but  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  elab- 
orate opinion  given  by  Judge  Brewster,  by  which  he 
figured  out  a  majority  in  favor  of  Gibbons,  Sheppard 
discovered  that  the  judge  had  committed  an  error  in 
his  complicated  computation,  and  that,  figuring  the 
result  out  upon  the  basis  accepted  by  the  court,  Shep- 
pard was  really  elected.  He  petitioned  Judge  Brewster 
for  a  review  of  the  case,  and  upon  rehearing  Judge 
Brewster  reversed  his  own  judgment  and  awarded  the 
office  to  Sheppard. 

I  had  taken  up  my  permanent  residence  in  Phila- 
delphia in  the  summer  of  1868,  and  in  connection  with 
Colonel  Mann  opened  a  suite  of  offices  on  Sixth  Street 
near  Walnut.  While  we  occupied  the  same  offices, 
there  was  no  partnership  in  our  professional  engage- 
ments. We  were  naturally  closely  associated  in  politics 
and  general  affairs,  as  we  had  been  for  more  than  a 
decade  of  the  past.  The  one  position  that  he  coveted 
was  that  of  district  attorney,  and  he  immediately 
devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  accomplishing  his  return 
to  that  position. 

We  had  many  and  very  earnest  discussions  on  the 
subject.  I  believed  that  the  Republican  party  could 
be  restored  to  unity  and  success  only  by  making  its 
record  command  the  approval  of  the  intelligent  and 
fair-minded  people  of  Republican  faith  in  the  city,  but 
he  believed  that  the  only  way  to  defeat  the  Democrats 
in  Philadelphia  was  to  adopt  Democratic  methods, 
and  improve  on  them.  The  portion  of  the  city  along 
the  Delaware  had  long  been  a  running  sore  of  political 
debauchery,  and  at  that  time  McMullen  was  in  the 
zenith  of  his  power  and  could  make  his  own  Fourth 
Ward  and  the  adjoining  wards  return  majorities  for  him 
to  his  own  wishes  with  little  regard  to  the  votes  cast. 

The  old-time  Anti- Masons  and  Whigs,  under  the 


of  Pennsylvania 


237 


lead  of  Charley  Naylor  and  others,  had  made  the 
uptown  wharf  wards  equally  corrupt,  and  their  major- 
ities at  times  depended  wholly  upon  the  interests  of 
corrupt  leaders  in  defiance  of  the  ballots  cast  by  the 
people.  There  was  then  no  colored  vote  to  stimulate 
commercial  politics,  nor  did  we  have  the  low  grade 
foreign  element  that  has  now  become  formidable  in 
the  city,  and  that  is  interested  in  politics  only  as 
voting  to  command  cash  or  its  equivalent,  but  the 
political  debauchery  of  that  day  was  at  times  even 
more  boldly  defiant  of  law  than  are  the  more  modem 
and  more  colossal  exhibitions  of  political  debauchery 
which  now  stain  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

It  was  this  threatening  political  condition  that  made 
Colonel  Mann  and  his  close  friends  decide  to  enact  a 
new  election  law  that  would  give  the  Republican 
leaders  not  only  the  absolute  control  of  every  election 
board  in  the  city,  but  that  would  also  greatly  eliminate 
the  restraining  power  of  the  courts  to  prevent  the  con- 
summation of  fraud.  It  was  known  as  the  ''registry 
law, "  as  it  provided  for  registration  entirely  under 
the  control  of  the  Republican  organization,  and  only 
those  registered  with  their  approval  could  vote.  By 
this  method  thousands  who  were  opponents  of  the 
Machine  organization  were  practically  disfranchised, 
and  in  order  to  control  the  returns  in  the  event  of  failure 
to  command  a  popular  majority,  the  selection  of  even 
the  minority  members  of  the  election  board  was  made 
by  the  same  power  that  appointed  the  majority.  Thus 
in  every  election  district  in  the  city  the  Republican 
machine  had  the  majority  of  the  board  and  a  minority 
of  its  own  choice. 

In  some  instances  the  minority  judges  were  chosen 
because  of  their  utter  ignorance,  men  who  could  be 
cheated  before  their  eyes  without  understanding  it, 
and  in  other  cases  Democrats  were  selected  who  could 


2  38 


Old  Time  Notes 


be  corrupted  by  the  majority.  As  an  instance  of  the 
kind  of  minority  election  officers  who  were  chosen, 
I  recall  the  testimony  of  two  such  Democratic  officers 
who  testified  in  the  contest  I  had  for  a  seat  in  the  senate 
in  1872.  The  registry  law  required  that  the  vote  of 
each  hour  should  be  proclaimed  publicly  from  the  win- 
dow, ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  fraud, 
but,  in  point  of  fact,  to  give  the  leaders  hourly  informa- 
tion of  the  progress  of  the  election  and  advise  them  in 
time  of  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  desperate  measures 
to  create  or  increase  a  majority. 

These  two  Democratic  election  officers  had  voted 
for  me  at  the  special  election  for  senator  between  one 
and  two  o'clock  of  the  day,  and  the  return  of  that  hour, 
which  they  themselves  had  certified,  did  not  give  me 
a  single  vote.  When  they  were  questioned  by  the 
committee  that  was  hearing  the  case  as  to  why  they 
had  signed  an  election  return  that  they  knew  to  be 
false,  they  both  stated  that  they  knew  it  was  wrong, 
but  that  they  were  informed  that  it  was  their  duty 
to  sign  it  along  with  the  other  officers. 

This  registry  law,  after  repeated  consultations  in 
Colonel  Mann's  office,  at  some  of  which  I  was  present, 
was  framed  by  Mr.  Gibbons,  who  was  smarting  under 
his  defeat  for  district  attorney,  and  who  doubtless 
expected  that  he  would  be  allowed  another  opportunity 
to  make  a  contest  for  the  place.  Colonel  Mann  de- 
manded the  law  solely  to  restore  himself  to  that  position, 
but  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  advise  Gibbons  of 
his  purpose.  I  was  at  the  first  reading  of  the  bill  and 
very  earnestly  protested  against  it.  I  declared  that 
no  man  who  respected  his  own  position  in  the  party 
and  who  ever  hoped  to  command  its  confidence  and 
favor  by  deserving  it,  could  have  any  inspiration  in 
future  struggles  under  such  an  election  law. 

Mann  insisted  that  it  was  the  only  way  by  which 


Of  Pennsylvania 


239 


Democratic  fraud  could  be  defeated,  and  the  leaders 
were  finally  brought  together  and  decided  that  the 
bill  should  be  unitedly  supported  in  the  Legislature 
and  made  the  election  law  of  the  city.  When  the 
registry  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  I  openly 
denounced  it,  and  appealed  to  Governor  Geary  to 
veto  it,  but  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  and  did 
not  have  the  courage  to  withhold  his  approval. 

Under  the  law  the  Democrats  had  simply  no  chance 
at  all  to  succeed  in  any  of  the  local  contests,  and  the 
power  thus  given  to  the  ward  leaders,  who  never  take 
pause  to  think  of  the  retribution  they  must  invite, 
stimulated  them  to  the  enactment  of  most  appalling 
frauds.  It  was  this  registry  law;  and  the  startling 
debauchery  of  the  ballot  under  it,  that  in  a  few  years 
plunged  Philadelphia  into  the  throes  of  political  revo- 
lution ;  and  when  a  senator,  chosen  in  the  revolutionary 
tide  against  the  registry  law,  I  passed  through  the 
senate  by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  finally  forced  its 
passage  in  the  house,  a  new  election  law  that  tore  up 
by  the  roots  the  corrupt  features  of  the  registry  law,  and 
made  honest  elections  again  possible  in  Philadelphia. 

Mann  succeeded  in  regaining  the  district  attorney- 
ship under  the  registry  law  in  187 1,  although  the 
revolt  against  the  debauchery  of  the  ballot  had  taken 
formidable  shape,  but  in  1874,  when  the  revolution 
was  in  progress  and  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  was 
asserting  its  power,  he  was  nominated  for  another 
term,  but  Sheppard  defeated  him  by  some  4,000  major- 
ity, and  Mr.  Ashe,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the 
Legislature  and  was  active  in  securing  the  passage  of 
the  registry  law,  was  defeated  by  a  like  majority  for 
coroner  by  Dr.  Goddard. 

Under  the  registry  law  the  Republican  leaders 
became  accustomed  to  rely  entirely  upon  their  power 
over  the  registration  of  voters  and  over  the  returns  to 


240 


Old  Time  Notes 


win  victory  for  the  party.  To  avoid  the  necessity 
of  falsifying  returns  that  was  always  attended  with 
some  measure  of  danger,  the  custom  was  to  swarm 
the  city  with  repeaters  on  election  day,  and  have 
them  vote  on  the  thousands  of  fictitious  names  put 
upon  the  list  of  registered  voters.  As  a  rule,  election 
officers  made  little  inquiry  as  to  the  vote  of  any  man 
who  was  brought  to  the  window  by  the  Republican 
window-book  man. 

I  recall  a  very  interesting  illustration  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  registry  law  and  of  the  political  methods 
in  vogue  at  the  time.  A  vacancy  occurred  in  a  down- 
town senatorial  district  in  187 1  and  a  special  election 
was  called.  Curtin  was  then  absent  in  Russia,  and 
his  friends  made  little  or  no  effort  to  maintain  organ- 
ized opposition  to  Cameron's  supremacy.  One  of 
Cameron's  shrewd  methods  was  to  present  old-time 
followers  of  Curtin  for  local  offices  in  close  districts, 
who  were  privately  pledged  to  follow  his  fortunes  when 
elected.  There  was  every  temptation  for  ambitious 
men  to  do  so,  as  it  was  their  only  chance  of  advancement. 

The  district  was  naturally  Democratic,  but  under 
the  registry  law  the  Republican  leaders  had  controlled 
it.  Cameron  quietly  selected  a  business  man  of  excel- 
lent standing  in  the  district,  who  was  known  only  as  a 
consistent  friend  of  Curtin,  as  his  candidate  for  the 
place,  as  he  was  specially  desirous  to  control  the 
Republican  members  of  the  Legislature  for  his  re- 
election the  following  year. 

The  candidate  was  well  known  to  both  Mann  and 
myself,  as  he  had  co-operated  with  us  in  the  battles  of 
the  past,  and  he  called  at  our  offices,  got  us  together, 
and  informed  us  that  he  was  going  to  be  a  candidate 
for  senator,  and  that  he  had  been  assured  of  the  nomi- 
nation. We  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  he  was 
Cameron's  candidate,  and  meant  simply  to  decoy  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


241 


Curtin  people  into  his  support,  and  after  a  brief  con- 
ference I  put  the  question  directly  to  him,  whether  he 
was  not  pledged  to  support  Cameron  if  elected.  He 
insisted  that  he  ought  not  to  be  called  upon  to  make 
any  declaration  on  the  subject,  as  it  would  weaken  him 
in  the  campaign,  but  claimed  that  Mann  and  I  should 
support  him  earnestly  because  of  our  old  associations.  We 
exhibited  no  hostility  to  him,  and  allowed  him  to  depart 
hoping  that  he  would  be  supported  by  the  Curtin  people. 

As  soon  as  he  had  gone  Mann  and  I  conferred  on  the 
subject  and  decided  that  he  should  be  beaten.  If  he 
had  been  openly  and  consistently  for  Cameron  we 
should  not  have  taken  any  action  in  the  matter,  but 
we  were  both  greatly  vexed  at  the  fraud  he  evidently 
expected  to  practise  upon  us.  The  intimation  was 
given  to  a  trusted  leader  of  the  Democracy  that  if 
they  nominated  a  clean  man,  especially  if  they  nomi- 
nated a  soldier  of  good  record,  they  might  confidently 
rely  upon  his  selection. 

They  had  an  early  conference,  and  decided  to  pre- 
sent Colonel  Dechert,  who,  in  point  of  ability,  character 
and  gallantry  in  war,  filled  the  bill  completely.  The 
Republicans  admitted  that  he  would  be  a  very  strong 
candidate,  but  as  they  had  all  the  machinery  in  their 
hands  with  ample  means,  they  did  not  doubt  their 
ability  to  win.  A  large  amount  of  money  was  appropri- 
ated by  the  committee  to  cover  the  cost  of  the  election, 
and  most  of  it  was  applied  to  the  payment  of  repeaters. 

Mann  knew  by  whom  the  repeaters  were  to  be 
organized  and  handled,  and  brought  him  to  our  office 
for  conference.  I  knew  him  well,  and  our  relations 
had  been  very  friendly,  as  I  had  on  a  former  occasion 
aided  him  to  one  of  the  most  lucrative  city  offices. 
When  he  was  informicd  that  we  wanted  the  candidate 
for  senator  defeated,  he  at  once  said  that  he  would  do 
whatever  we  advised,  but  he  made  the  pertinent 

a — 16 


242 


Old  Time  Notes 


inquiry:  "What  am  I  to  do  with  the  boys?''  He 
then  informed  us  of  the  two  or  three  scores  of  gangs 
of  repeaters,  all  of  whom  were  already  employed,  many 
of  them  from  the  city  outside  of  the  district  and  some 
from  Delaware.  A  captain  was  assigned  to  each  gang, 
and  he  had  his  route  mapped  out  for  him,  indicating 
every  election  place  at  which  he  should  stop  and  have 
his  men  vote.  They  were  all  to  vote  at  from  twenty 
to  thirty  different  places,  and  as  each  gang  contained 
from  eight  to  twelve  men,  it  can  readily  be  seen  that 
the  repeaters  alone  were  expected  to  add  from  two  to 
three  thousand  to  the  vote  for  the  Republican  candi- 
date for  senator. 

All  these  captains  were  under  the  command  of  the 
man  who  was  conferring  with  us  on  the  subject,  and 
received  their  orders  directly  from  him.  We  instructed 
him  to  go  on  and  carry  out  his  programme  and  assured 
him  that  they  would  not  be  permitted  to  vote,  but  that 
they  would  not  be  arrested  or  troubled  in  any  way 
unless  they  were  guilty  of  riotous  conduct.  The 
arrangement  was  completed,  and  it  was  carried  out 
to  the  letter.  After  this  arrangement  was  made  I 
immediately  called  upon  Mayor  Fox,  and  gave  him  all 
the  facts,  with  the  names  of  the  captains  and  the  route 
that  each  gang  was  to  take  from  morning  until  night. 
It  was  necessary  in  order  to  checkmate  this  fraud  that 
these  gangs  should  not  have  reason  to  suspect  that 
their  plan  had  been  discovered  and  that  they  would 
be  halted  in  their  work.  The  mayor  selected  sixty 
of  his  most  reliable  and  discreet  policemen  to  cover 
the  lines  where  the  repeaters  were  to  do  their  work, 
with  positive  instructions  that  the  gang  should  not 
be  interfered  with  beyond  the  policemen  going  up  to  the 
captain  when  he  reached  a  poll,  quietly  informing  him 
that  his  mission  was  understood,  that  none  of  his  men 
could  vote  at  that  poll  without  being  arrested,  and 


Of  Pennsylvania 


243 


that  if  they  would  move  on  without  disturbance  they 
would  not  be  further  interfered  with. 

Mayor  Fox  gave  the  subject  the  most  careful  atten- 
tion, and  in  every  instance  when  a  gang  appeared  at  a 
poll  a  policeman  quietly  stepped  to  the  head  man, 
told  him  that  his  business  there  was  well  known  to 
the  police,  that  if  he  attempted  to  poll  any  of  the  votes 
of  his  gang  they  would  be  promptly  arrested,  but  that 
if  they  would  quietly  leave  that  poll  he  would  permit 
them  to  pass  without  further  interference.  The  result 
was  a  very  quiet  election,  and  the  gangs  of  repeaters 
traveled  their  routes  during  most  of  the  day,  but  foimd 
themselves  stopped  and  forced  to  move  quietly  away 
from  every  poll.  The  leaders  thus  had  no  informa- 
tion of  how  their  plan  had  been  defeated,  and  believing 
that  their  candidate  was  certain  to  succeed,  they 
patiently  waited  for  the  returns  that  they  confidently 
expected  would  give  them  a  decided  majority. 

They  expected  the  Democrats  to  poll  a  considerable 
fraudulent  vote  in  the  Fourth  Ward  and  vicinity, 
and  they  decided  not  to  attempt  to  interfere  with  them, 
as  the  policemen  were  all  Democrats,  but  they  had 
planned  such  a  stupendous  system  of  repeating  in  the 
other  wards  of  the  district,  that  then  embraced  all  of 
Philadelphia  south  of  Walnut  and  between  the  rivers, 
that  they  felt  entirely  able  to  overcome  anything  the 
Democrats  might  do.  The  result  was  that  the  Repub- 
lican frauds  failed  entirely  without  a  suspicion  of  the 
failure  on  the  part  of  the  leaders  until  too  late  to  correct 
it,  and  the  Democrats  under  the  lead  of  McMullen  ran 
his  end  of  the  district  in  his  own  regulation  way,  and 
the  Republican  leaders  were  dumfounded  when  the 
returns  came  in,  giving  Dechert  nearly  1,500  majority. 
This  chapter  of  Philadelphia  politics  more  than  a 
generation  ago  is  necessary  to  make  these  papers  a 
correct  history  of  old-time  political  methods. 


244 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXIV. 
THE  REIGN  OF  SHODDY. 

Sudden  Acquisition  of  Wealth  Brought  a  Tidal  Wave  of  Shoddy  Osten- 
tation— Precious  Stones  Flashed  from  Gaudily  Dressed  Shoddyites — 
Bewildering  Extravagance  Became  Common  in  Hospitality — Ladies 
of  Culture  Abandoned  the  Display  of  Jewels — The  Gorgeous  and 
Vulgar  Exhibition  of  Shoddy  at  the  Great  Ball  Given  to  Grand  Duke 
Alexis,  Son  of  the  Czar — The  Saturday  Evening  Club  Organized  to 
Halt  the  Shoddy  Display  of  Profligacy  in  Entertainments — Political 
Demoralization  Followed  the  New  Social  Eruption — ^The  Inevitable 
Revolution  Came,  and  Many  Shoddyites  Died  in  Poverty. 

WAR  is  the  fruitful  parent  of  demoralization, 
and  of  all  such  strifes  civil  wars  are  the  most 
disturbing  in  all  the  important  relations  of 
life.  They  breed  corruption  in  business  and  politics, 
and  stamp  their  stain  more  or  less  even  upon  social 
and  religious  life.  One  of  the  most  memorable  of  all 
the  developments  of  our  civil  war  was  exhibited  in 
what  was  long  remembered,  and  is  still  remembered 
by  many  of  the  older  residents  of  the  city,  as  the  reign 
of  shoddy. 

When  the  war  began  in  1861,  Philadelphia  was 
suffering  from  very  severe  and  protracted  industrial, 
commercial  and  financial  revulsion.  The  suspension 
of  the  banks  in  1857,  and  the  general  depression  that 
followed  in  all  channels  of  industry,  were  not  only  felt 
very  generally  in  every  community,  but  fell  with  special 
force  upon  Philadelphia,  that  was  then  the  great  com- 
mercial metropolis  of  the  Nation,  and  commanded  a 
vast  preponderance  of  the  entire  Southern  trade. 
Labor  was  unemployed  or  very  inadequately  requited. 
Our  manufacturers  were  fortunate  if  able  to  pay  their 


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245 


operating  expenses,  and  our  large  commercial  houses 
were  greatly  demoralized  and  simply  struggling  to 
tide  over  the  severe  strain  that  was  upon  them.  I  well 
remember  in  the  early  part  of  1861,  standing  with 
several  friends  in  front  of  the  Continental  Hotel  for 
a  considerable  time,  discussing  the  question  of  pur- 
chasing the  Girard  House  for  $10,000,  subject  to  a 
mortgage  of  $100,000.  Real  estate  values  had  reached 
the  lowest  ebb  of  more  than  a  score  of  years,  and  the 
prospect  of  civil  war  spread  the  gloom  of  despair  over 
the  entire  commercial,  industrial  and  financial  interests 
of  the  city. 

When  the  first  loan  of  $50,000,000  was  called  for 
by  the  government  to  prosecute  the  war,  the  financial 
men  of  the  country  regarded  it  as  a  task  that  would 
exhaust  the  financial  resources  of  the  nation,  and  I 
recall  more  than  one  instance  in  which  I  purchased 
the  7-30  bonds  of  the  government  below  par.  The 
vast  resources  of  the  country  were  unappreciated  and 
unknown  to  the  people  themselves.  If  they  had  then 
believed  that  a  great  civil  war,  costing  many  billions 
of  dollars,  was  to  follow  the  election  of  Lincoln,  he 
would  have  been  defeated  by  an  overwhelming  vote, 
or  if  they  had  dreamed  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
that  such  enormous  sacrifice  of  life  and  treasure  would 
be  necessary  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  States,  the 
war  would  have  been  summarily  abandoned  in  despair ; 
but  before  the  close  of  the  first  year  of  the  war  new 
conditions  appeared,  and  the  people  of  Philadelphia 
saw  that  vast  fortunes  were  to  be  gathered  in  legiti- 
mate enterprise  by  the  continuance  of  the  war.  Our 
currency  was  cheapened  by  the  entire  suspension  of 
specie  payments,  and  the  increased  demands  of 
government  were  logically  followed  by  increased 
demands  for  consumption  by  the  people.  As  money 
became  abundant  it  speedily  brought  a  tide  of  apparent 


246 


Old  Time  Notes 


prosperity  that  surpassed  the  wildest  dreams  of  those 
who  had  hoped  for  fortunes. 

I  remember  hearing  Mr.  Borie,  of  Grant's  cabinet, 
discussing  the  wonderful  advances  in  prices  in  the 
early  part  of  the  war.  He  cited  instances  in  which  a 
cargo  of  goods  he  had  purchased  for  importation  had 
advanced  to  more  than  double  their  cost  before  they 
came  into  his  possession.  All  our  mills  and  factories 
which  had  been  maintained  in  fairly  good  condition 
were  soon  called  upon  to  employ  the  utmost  of  their 
resources  in  the  production  of  their  wares  or  fabrics, 
and  finally  new  and  colossal  establishments  had  to 
be  created  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  government  and 
the  public.  Wealth  came  suddenly,  and  in  large 
measure,  to  a  class  of  our  industrial  people  who  had 
never  dreamed  of  gaining  more  than  a  generous  com- 
petence in  their  business.  Many  of  them  possessed 
little  or  no  culture  themselves,  and  they  and  their 
children,  with  rare  exceptions,  plunged  into  the  most 
extravagant  display  in  efforts  not  merely  to  imitate, 
but  to  surpass  the  hospitality  and  social  distinction 
of  the  cultured  families  of  the  city. 

During  the  later  years  of  the  war,  and  for  some  time 
after  it  ended,  there  were  more  precious  stones  and 
costly  jewels  sold  in  Philadelphia  than  have  ever  been 
sold  in  any  like  period  during  the  last  forty  years, 
which  have  presented  repeated  tides  of  prosperity 
vastly  more  substantial  than  was  shown  by  the  flashing 
inflation  of  war. 

I  remember  Mr.  Caldwell,  the  founder  of  the  present 
great  jewelry  house  in  Philadelphia,  telling  me  of  the  ex- 
traordinary sales  of  precious  stones  and  jewels  made 
by  his  house,  then  occup3ang  a  comparatively  small 
building  below  the  Girard  House.  He  said  that  the 
demand  for  diamonds  at  any  price  was  so  great  that 
it  was  difficult  to  fill  orders,  and  he  added  that  the 


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247 


peculiar  feature  of  that  trade  was  that  the  purchasers 
as  a  rule  were  often  entirely  unknown  to  him.  He 
gave  as  an  illustration  of  the  class  that  was  then  indulg- 
ing in  very  costly  jewels,  that  a  lady  gaudily  dressed 
had  entered  his  store,  purchased  a  $5,000  diamond 
necklace,  paid  for  it,  coolly  fastened  it  about  her  neck 
and  wore  it  on  her  way  home.  A  regular  reign  of 
shoddy  dominated  the  city,  and  at  the  theatres, 
churches  and  other  public  places  a  profusion  of  dia- 
monds flashed  from  the  hands  and  necks  of  women 
whose  general  demeanor  indicated  entire  ignorance  of 
the  proper  use  of  such  decorations.  So  generally  and 
profusely  were  the  precious  stones  of  the  new  shoddy 
leaders  and  followers  flashed  upon  the  public  without 
regard  to  the  fitness  of  the  occasion,  that  the  women 
of  culture  in  Philadelphia  absolutely  abandoned  the 
use  of  their  jewels  and  generally  appeared  on  all  impor- 
tant  social  occasions  in  the  simplest  elegance. 

Entertainments  became  so  lavish  in  expenditure 
and  so  gaudy  in  awkward  decoration  that  only  a 
very  few  of  those  who  had  been  leaders  in  hospitality 
in  the  social  circle  of  the  city  were  able  to  approach 
their  shoddy  rivals  in  hospitable  grandeur.  Wealth 
was  acquired  with  such  marvelous  haste  that  many  of 
those  who  had  been  favored  by  fortune  were  utterly 
bewildered,  and  the  inherent  love  of  distinction  that 
pervades  all  classes  and  conditions  of  mankind  brought 
a  flood  tide  of  shoddy  extravagance  that  absolutely 
unsettled  the  whole  social  system  of  the  city. 

I  witnessed  the  crowning  exhibition  of  this  reign  of 
shoddy  a  few  years  after  the  war,  before  the  revulsion 
that  began  in  1873  ended  in  the  most  fearful 

business  and  industrial  revulsions  in  1 87  7 ,  when  anarchy 
asserted  its  mastery  from  the  Eastern  to  the  Western 
sea.  It  was  the  occasion  of  the  great  ball  given  to 
the  Grand  Duke  Alexis,  son  of  Alexander  II,  then 


248 


Old  Time  Notes 


Czar  of  Russia.  Russia  had  endeared  the  American 
people  to  her  emperor  and  government  by  the  bold 
attitude  assumed  during  our  civil  war,  when  we  were 
threatened  with  the  intervention  of  England  and 
France,  and  most  generous  welcome  was  given  to  the 
son  of  the  Czar,  who  is  yet  living  as  the  highest  honorary 
naval  commander  of  the  empire.  He  was  young, 
bright,  spirited,  handsome  and  genial,  and  he  had 
fallen  in  love  with  the  wrong  woman.  To  divert  him 
from  a  boyish  love  affair  he  was  sent  by  his  father, 
with  a  magnificent  suite  of  Russian  naval  officers, 
on  a  cruise  around  the  world. 

Curtin  was  then  our  Minister  to  Russia,  enjoying 
the  most  friendly  sympathy  of  the  Czar,  and  he  had 
taken  pains  to  pave  the  way  for  an  overwhelmingly 
generous  reception  to  the  young  duke  in  the  chief  city 
of  Curtin 's  home  State.  The  result  vv^as  the  greatest 
social  event  in  the  history  of  Philadelphia.  It  was 
intended  as  a  popular  tribute  to  the  distinguished 
visitor,  and,  of  course,  social  class  distinctions  were 
effaced.  The  society  leaders  of  the  city  heartily 
entered  into  the  movement  and  bore  their  part  with 
becoming  dignity,  w^hile  mingling  freely  with  the  host 
of  over-dressed  and  jewel-spangled  women  who  crowded 
in  every  part  of  the  vast  assembly.  The  Academy  of 
Music,  with  the  parquet  floored  to  give  ample  scope 
for  the  dancing,  was  jammed,  and  never  before  or  since 
has  there  been  such  a  gorgeous  display  of  costly  apparel 
and  jewels. 

I  studied  the  picture  for  several  hours,  and  it  was 
one  of  the  most  impressive  of  the  many  like  social 
events  I  can  recall.  Two  well-known  ladies  of  the  city 
were  long  remembered  for  their  appearance  on  that 
occasion  in  all  the  sweet  simplicity  of  perfect  elegance, 
as  they  were  confessedly  in  the  forefront  of  the  many 
beautiful  women  who  appeared  on  that  occasion. 


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249 


They  were  Mrs.  Colonel  Scott  and  Miss  Schaumberg. 
Both  were  highly  cultured,  perfect  in  all  the  graces, 
courteous  to  all,  but  grandly  displaying  the  highest 
dignity  of  American  womanhood.  They  were  elegantly 
dressed,  of  course,  but  in  the  quietest  possible  manner, 
and  with  each  a  single  diamond  solitaire  completed 
the  list  of  jewels,  while  most  of  the  women  around 
them  were  overladen  with  the  most  expensive  laces 
and  trimmings,  and  their  heads,  necks,  waists,  arms  and 
fingers  flashing  the  refulgence  of  a  pitched  together 
medley  of  diamonds  and  rubies. 

Of  course,  so  costly  and  bewildering  a  reign  as  that 
given  us  by  shoddy  in  the  sweeping  inflation  of  war 
could  not  last.  It  brought  new  conditions  to  the 
homes  of  many  hundreds  of  our  people,  and  opened 
the  doors  for  the  refinement  and  culture  which  com- 
mand universal  respect,  and  while  the  mere  vulgarians 
ran  their  course  in  the  shoddy  race  until  bankruptcy 
ended  their  career,  education  and  refinement  speedily 
found  their  way  to  the  homes  of  many,  and  gave  us 
a  new  generation  of  substantial  people  with  business 
intelligence  and  social  culture.  When  the  revulsion  of 
1873  began  its  terrible  reaction,  extravagance  was 
speedily  checked,  and  as  wealth  had  ceased  to  come 
almost  unbidden  to  a  large  portion  of  the  shoddyites, 
the  pawnbroker  finally  took  the  last  inventory  of  their 
precious  stones  and  jewels. 

This  shoddy  condition  when  at  its  zenith  in  extrava- 
gance in  social  and  hospitable  life  prompted  the  more 
intelligent  and  cultured  business  and  professional 
men  of  the  city  to  confront  it  by  a  counter-movement, 
and  it  resulted  in  the  organization  of  what  was  long 
known  as  the  Saturday  Evening  Club,  for  which  many 
yet  living  in  Philadelphia  have  most  grateful  memories. 

The  club  had  a  large  membership,  and  it  was  made 
up  entirely  of  representative  men  of  the  best  business 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  professional  circles  of  the  city,  many  of  whom 
were  able  to  keep  more  than  abreast  with  the  shoddyites 
in  reckless  extravagance  if  they  had  chosen  to  do  so. 
They  organized  the  club  with  peremptory  rules  for- 
bidding even  the  semblance  of  extravagance  in  the 
entertainments.  The  suppers  given  were  substantial  and 
elegant,  but  all  the  more  costly  dishes  were  excluded, 
and  no  member  was  permitted  to  exceed  the  rules  in  a 
display  of  hospitality  under  penalty  of  dismissal. 

I  attended  very  many  of  these  Saturday  Evening 
Club  meetings,  and  I  am  sure  that  those  who  can  recall 
them  will  agree  that  they  were  the  most  enjoyable 
of  all  the  social  entertainments  ever  given  in  Philadel- 
phia. There  was  no  departure  from  the  ordinary  rules 
of  gentility,  and  all  appeared  in  the  regulation  evening 
dress,  but  there  was  an  absence  of  conventional  sup- 
pression at  all  these  assemblies  that  opened  wide  the 
door  for  the  most  generous  intercourse  between  the 
guests.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  several  hundred 
of  the  leading  men  of  Philadelphia  to  attend  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Club.  Chairs  were  taken  from  the  rooms, 
leaving  here  and  there  a  sofa  to  furnish  rest  to  the  weary, 
as  the  crowded  condition  of  the  rooms  required  the 
guests  to  remain  standing  during  the  evening. 

In  one  comer  of  the  dining-room  at  all  the  meetings 
of  the  club  was  a  special  table  with  chairs  to  accom- 
modate ten  or  a  dozen  men.  It  was  known  as  the  old 
men's  corner,  and  they  were  allowed  exemption  from 
the  standing  rule,  and  were  permitted  to  sit  down  to 
their  supper  and  enjoy  it  in  their  own  way.  In  the 
comer  could  be  seen  almost  any  evening  the  venerable 
General  Patterson,  the  still  more  venerable  William 
D.  Lewis,  with  Lewis  A.  Godey,  Joseph  R.  Chandler, 
General  Cameron,  General  Cadwallader  and  others, 
and  the  brilliant  Morton  McMichael  occasionally  joined 
them  exploiting  himself  as  a  kid,  as  he  was  not  then 


Of  Pennsylvania 


deemed  quite  venerable  enough  to  be  one  of  the 
veteran  circle. 

At  these  gatherings  you  could  meet  the  represen- 
tative men  not  only  of  the  city  but  of  the  State,  for 
distinguished  men  from  any  section  of  the  Common- 
wealth who  happened  to  be  visiting  the  city  were 
always  invited  guests,  and  no  social  gatherings  that 
I  have  ever  attended  were  so  rich  alike  in  entertain- 
ment and  instruction.  The  moral  effect  of  this  move- 
ment was  speedily  felt  throughout  the  shoddy  circles, 
and  brought  to  many  an  early  appreciation  of  the  fact 
that  they  were  simply  indulging  in  vulgar  and  costly 
display  that  offended  the  good  taste  of  the  public, 
and  brought  to  themselves  only  contempt  and  shame. 
This  club  continued  until  the  reign  of  shoddy  perished, 
and  it  ended  its  good  work  when  its  purpose  was  com- 
pletely and  grandly  accomplished. 

Not  only  did  the  reign  of  shoddy  assert  itself  with  con- 
spicuous offensiveness  in  social  life,  but  it  also  asserted 
itself  to  an  alarming  degree  in  the  politics  of  the  city. 
The  Philadelphia  Row  offices  had  been  cultivated  to 
the  limit  in  extortionate  abuses,  and  a  term  in  one  of 
them  was  an  ample  fortune  for  any  incumbent  who 
knew  how  to  husband  his  money.  The  overshadowing 
interest  in  the  war,  and  the  general  prevalence  of  extra- 
vagance and  display,  made  the  people  indifferent  to 
equal  extravagant  jobbery  in  political  life.  Offices 
were  created  in  the  city  furnishing  what  would  have 
been  considered  fortunes  before  the  war,  and  most 
channels  of  city  authority  were  prostituted  to  graft 
that  was  generally  largely  expended  in  display. 

I  recall  a  prominent  politician  of  that  time  who  was 
chosen  by  councils  for  the  head  of  one  of  the  city  depart- 
ments with  a  salary  of  $3,000  a  year.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  fortune ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was  probably  bank- 
rupt at  the  time  he  gained  the  ofQce,  but  immediately 


252  Old  Time  Notes 


upon  his  election  he  gave  an  entertainment  that  not 
only  crowded  his  house,  but  his  entire  yard  that  had 
been  fitted  up  at  an  enormous  expense,  with  a  most 
lavish  supper  and  abundance  of  wine.  The  entertain- 
ment cost  nearly  double  an  entire  year's  salary,  but 
the  expenditure  of  over  $5,000  for  a  single  entertain- 
ment was  regarded  as  a  mere  bagatelle  in  many  of  the 
official  circles  of  that  day.  Hundreds  of  men  who  before 
the  war  regarded  a  glass  of  beer  as  a  luxury,  guzzled 
wine  until  many  were  intoxicated,  and  long  before  the 
midnight  hour  there  was  high  revelry  in  house  and 
yard  to  the  music  of  hundreds  of  canary  birds  summoned 
for  the  occasion  to  greet  the  guests  with  song. 

Every  day  about  noon  a  party  of  ten  or  a  dozen 
leaders  assembled  at  Jerry  Walker's,  and  their  appetites 
were  never  appeased  with  less  than  a  full  basket  of 
champagne,  while  on  some  occasions  the  gathering 
would  multiply  and  two  or  three  baskets  would  be 
smashed  before  the  lunch  ended.  This  reckless  ex- 
travagance brought  its  inexorable  penalty,  and  a 
majority  of  the  men  who  thus  had  opportunities  to 
possess  large  amounts  of  money  by  various  species  of 
graft  died  in  comparative  poverty. 

Another  instance  that  I  recall  pointedly  illustrates 
the  reckless  methods  by  which  our  financial  depart- 
ments were  then  conducted.  I  was  one  day  called 
upon  by  a  prominent  man  of  the  city  who  had  held 
high  official  position.  He  stated  that  he  desired  to 
engage  me  professionally  in  a  matter  that  would  be 
mutually  advantageous  to  both  of  us.  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  then  paid,  as  I  remember,  about  $30,000 
a  year  direct  taxes  to  the  city,  and  the  proposed  client 
suggested  that  I  might,  by  reason  of  my  close  rela- 
tions with  Colonel  Scott,  obtain  permission  from  the 
company  to  take  its  check  to  the  tax  office,  pay  the 
company's  taxes,  and  receive  a  properly  executed 


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253 


receipt  for  the  same.  I  said  that  it  might  be  possible 
for  me  to  obtain  permission  from  the  company  to 
deHver  its  check  for  the  payment  of  taxes,  but  naturally 
inquired  how  that  could  benefit  either  the  client  or 
myself. 

He  assured  me  that  if  I  obtained  the  check  for  pay- 
ment of  the  company's  taxes  he  would  go  with  me  him- 
self and  I  should  personally  see  the  two  financial  officers 
of  the  city  who  were  then  required  to  sign  the  receipt 
and  receive  a  properly  executed  and  bona  fide  receipt, 
and  immediately  after  the  payment  of  the  tax,  one- 
third  of  the  full  amount  would  be  paid  to  me,  and  the 
remaining  two-thirds  would  be  appropriated  to  the 
client  and  parties  inside  of  the  tax  office. 

Of  course  the  proposition  was  promptly  rejected. 
It  would  not  have  done  any  good,  and  might  have  done 
me  much  harm  if  I  had  resented  it  in  the  aggressive 
manner  that  would  have  been  fully  justified  under  the 
circumstances.  I  declined  the  proffer  on  the  ground 
that  I  could  not  join  in  a  transaction  that  involved 
such  a  violation  of  the  trust  the  company  might  repose 
in  me,  and  that  also  might  result  in  personal  disgrace. 

I  asked  him  how  it  was  possible  for  such  transactions 
to  be  made  without  detection,  and  he  informed  me 
that  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  divide  up  be- 
tween outside  counsel  and  inside  grafters  payments 
made  to  the  treasury  in  very  large  sums. 

It  seemed  to  me  almost  incredible,  but  the  man 
understood  his  business  well,  w^as  trained  in  all  the 
high  art  of  the  grafting  of  that  day,  and  was  not  in  any 
sense  a  wild  adventurer  in  the  scheme. 

It  became  an  open  secret  some  years  after  a  promi- 
nent and  generally  respected  citizen  was  chosen  to  the 
tax  office  that  the  first  day  he  entered  upon  his  duties 
he  appropriated  $100,000  in  cash  to  himself.  I  do  not 
recall  a  smgie  one  of  the  larger  thefts  of  public  money 


254 


Old  Time  Notes 


that  brought  the  guilty  parties  to  exposure  and  punish- 
ment. Occasionally  a  petty  subordinate  would  be 
caught  in  an  awkward  imitation  of  his  principals  and 
go  to  prison,  but  the  leaders  who  invented  and  executed 
the  bewildering  debauchery  and  profligacy  of  those 
days  suffered  no  more  than  general  suspicion  that  their 
wealth  had  been  lawlessly  obtained,  and  the  public  had 
learned  to  look  upon  it  as  the  regulation  thing  to  regard 
it  with  comparative  indifference. 

Revolution  came,  as  it  always  must,  to  correct  such 
appalling  abuses,  and  it  was  the  Committee  of  One 
Hundred  that  finally  swept  the  grafters  from  power  in 
a  tempest  of  retribution.  Unfortunately  tempestuous 
revolutions  speedily  exhaust  their  powers,  and  after  a 
decade,  in  which  nearly  every  important  office  in  the 
city,  from  mayor  down,  was  filled  by  reform  candidates, 
some  of  the  shrewder  of  the  old  machine  leaders,  with 
new  leaders  gradually  developed,  stealthily  crept  into 
power,  and  substantial  reform  in  the  only  truly  Ameri- 
can and  most  intelligent  city  of  the  continent  lingered 
only  as  a  memory. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


^55 


LXXV. 
ROBERT  W.  MACKEY. 

The  Ablest  All- Around  Republican  Leader  of  Pennsylvania — Quay  His 
Promising  Lieutenant — How  Quay  Made  Mackey  State  Treasurer — 
Mackey  the  Master  Leader  of  the  Party  for  a  Full  Decade — His 
Method  of  Controlling  Conventions  and  Legislators — His  Close 
Relations  with  Both  Wallace  and  Randall — How  He  Saved  the 
Electoral  Vote  of  Florida  for  Hayes — Mackey  Saved  Wallace  in  His 
Contest  for  Senator — How  He  Defeated  Fusion  and  Elected  Hoyt 
Governor. 

THE  year  1869  brought  to  the  front  Robert  W. 
Mackey,  the  ablest  all-around  leader  the  Re- 
publicans of  Pennsylvania  have  ever  created. 
Quay,  although  a  young  man,  had  become  an  important 
factor  in  State  politics.  He  was  first  felt  in  1863,  when 
by  his  admirable  management  he  nominated  Judge 
Agnew,  of  his  own  town,  for  the  supreme  bench. 
Agnew  had  little  popular  following,  although  eminently 
fitted  for  the  judicial  office,  and  his  nomination  had  to  be 
accomplished  by  earnest  political  efforts  and  combina- 
tions, in  which  Quay  had  then  proved  himself  a  master. 

In  his  last  year  of  service  in  the  house,  in  the  session 
of  1867,  the  unfriendly  barrier  between  him  and  the 
Cameron  power  of  the  State  had  been  substantially 
overthrown,  and  in  the  Legislature  of  1868  he  readily 
accomplished  the  election  of  General  W.  W.  Irwin,  of 
Beaver  County,  to  the  office  of  State  treasurer.  He 
had  in  the  early  part  of  the  war  secured  the  appoint- 
ment of  Irwin  as  commissary  general  of  the  State,  and 
as  that  position  ended  with  the  termination  of  the  war, 
he  asserted  his  leadership  by  making  Invin  State 
treasurer. 


256 


Old  Time  Notes 


Irwin  was  not  a  man  of  great  political  force,  and 
owed  his  position  entirely  to  Quay,  but  some  months 
after  Irwin  entered  the  office  of  State  treasurer  a  seri- 
ous difference  arose  between  Irwin  and  himself.  The 
reasons  for  the  estrangement  were  never  made  public 
by  Quay,  but  he  decided,  some  months  before  the  Legis- 
lature of  1869  met,  that  Irwin  should  not  be  re-elected, 
and  he  brought  out  Mackey  as  his  candidate. 

Mackey  was  then  cashier  of  the  Allegheny  Bank. 
He  had  started  his  career  without  fortune,  and  almost 
without  friends,  but  General  George  W.  Cass,  then  presi- 
dent of  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  &  Chicago  Rail- 
road, and  an  active  Democrat,  procured  a  position  for 
Mackey  when  yet  in  his  teens,  and  Mackey  rapidly 
advanced  himself  by  his  extraordinary  ability.  Al- 
though Cass  was  the  leading  Democrat  of  Allegheny 
and  Mackey  was  rapidly  developing  as  the  leading 
Republican,  Cass  stood  loyally  by  him  in  every  struggle 
that  Mackey  had  and  was  largely  instrumental  in  en- 
abling him  to  reach  his  important  position  in  the  bank. 
When  Quay  decided  to  make  Mackey  his  candidate  for 
State  treasurer  to  defeat  Irwin,  Cass  came  promptly  to 
Mackey 's  aid,  and  whatever  financial  influences  were 
felt  in  the  contest  might  have  been  traced  directly  to 
Cass. 

So  quietly  did  Quay  manage  his  campaign  against 
Irwin  that  Mackey  was  not  publicly  discussed  until 
about  the  time  that  the  Legislature  met,  but  as  the 
senators  and  representatives  gathered  in  Harrisburg 
it  was  soon  discovered  that  Mackey  was  a  very  formid- 
able candidate,  and  long  before  the  caucus  met  Irwin 
was  hopelessly  distanced  in  the  race.  I  first  met 
Mackey  when  he  came  on  to  Harrisburg  to  exploit  his 
candidacy  for  State  treasurer,  and  was  greatly  disap- 
pointed in  his  appearance.  He  had  every  indication 
of  a  racking  consumptive,  and  looked  more  like  one 


Of  Pennsylvania 


257 


who  should  be  seeking  some  sunny  place  to  winter  for 
the  preservation  of  his  health  than  to  be  struggling  for 
a  political  position.  He  had  every  sign  of  hopeless 
physical  infirmity,  and  his  stooping  shoulders  and 
shuffling  gait  indicated  lack  of  vigor.  He  was  then 
little  known  outside  of  Pittsburg,  and  most  of  the 
leaders  of  the  party  were  startled  at  Quay's  audacious 
movement  to  displace  his  friend  from  his  own  county 
whom  he  had  placed  in  office  and  give  it  to  a  compara- 
tive stranger  who  was  generally  regarded  as  unable  to 
render  any  special  political  service  in  return ;  but  before 
Mackey  was  a  year  in  the  office  of  State  treasurer  he 
became  not  only  the  foremost  of  the  Cameron  lieuten- 
ants, but  was  well  on  the  way  to  the  absolute  leader- 
ship of  the  party  in  the  State. 

Curtin  was  then  in  Russia,  and  although  his  organi- 
zation was  practically  abandoned  in  the  State,  there 
was  much  irritation  among  his  old  friends  who  were 
severely  ostracised  by  Senators  Cameron  and  Cowan, 
who  necessarily  controlled  the  patronage  of  the 
National  administration  in  Pennsylvania,  and  that  bit- 
terness asserted  itself  to  a  sufficient  extent  in  the 
Legislature  of  1870  to  bring  about  a  combination  be- 
tween the  anti- Cameron  Republicans  of  the  Legislature 
and  the  Democrats  that  defeated  Mackey  for  re-election 
and  restored  Irwin  to  the  office  from  which  Quay  had 
ejected  him.  Mackey  bore  his  defeat  philosophically 
and  immediately  began  his  organization  to  re-elect  him- 
self the  following  year,  and  so  complete  and  methodical 
was  his  organization  made  that  he  not  only  defeated 
Irwin  with  ease,  but  held  his  organization  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand  from  that  time  until  his  death  some  ten 
years  later. 

I  was  brought  into  more  or  less  intimate  intercourse 
with  all  the  political  leaders  of  the  State  for  nearly 
half  a  century,  and  I  have  never  known  one  on  either 


Old  Time  Notes 


side  who  was  such  a  thoroughly  accomplished  political 
master  as  Robert  W.  Mackey.  There  was  not  a  quality 
of  leadership  that  he  did  not  possess,  and  there  was 
hardly  a  fault  in  his  leadership  that  could  be  presented. 
His  whole  time  during  the  seasons  when  most  politi- 
cians were  taking  little  interest  in  politics  was  devoted 
to  preparing  the  way  for  the  control  of  the  coming 
Republican  State  convention  and  the  coming  Legis- 
lature. When  a  Legislature  adjourned  he  was  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  individual  qualities  of  every 
member,  and  he  knew  just  who  of  his  party  should  be  left 
at  home  and  who  should  be  returned.  He  did  not  make 
his  plans  publicly  known  even  in  the  localities  where 
he  was  operating,  but  any  member  of  the  Legislature 
who  for  any  reason  was  deemed  only  fit  in  Mackey 's 
judgment  for  retirement  to  private  life  would  discover 
when  he  turned  his  attention  to  his  renomination  that 
some  unseen  power  had  shaped  the  action  of  the  party 
for  his  defeat,  and  those  who  in  Mackey 's  judgment 
merited  re-election  were  quietly  aided  in  every  way 
before  the  contest  for  nominations  was  opened,  and 
thus,  as  a  rule,  the  men  he  wished  to  be  renominated 
won  out  with  ease,  and  those  who  were  deemed  un- 
worthy of  renomination  suffered  defeat  that  apparently 
came  from  the  voluntary  action  of  their  own  people. 

It  was  not  Mackey 's  policy  to  debauch  legislators  or 
delegates  to  political  conventions,  but  he  expended 
money  liberally  in  every  senatorial  and  representative 
district  to  aid  the  election  of  the  party  candidates,  and 
the  result  was  that  when  a  Legislature  assembled  at 
Harrisburg  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Republi- 
cans were  Mackey 's  devoted  friends.  Unlike  some 
political  leaders,  he  had  no  love  for  striking  down  men 
who  were  obstacles  to  the  consummation  of  his  plans. 
He  would  always  exhaust  all  friendly  offices,  but  when 
it  became  necessary  for  him  to  accept  open  war  with 


of  Pennsylvania 


259 


any  man  he  would  strike  from  the  shoulder,  and  few 
survived  such  a  conflict  with  him. 

In  like  manner  he  superintended  the  election  of  dele- 
gates to  State  conventions.  He  often  made  candidates 
for  the  Legislature  and  for  delegates  to  conventions 
long  before  others  thought  of  making  a  contest  for  the 
place,  and  when  money  was  needed  to  reconcile  party 
differences  or  to  elect  his  favorite  candidates  it  was 
always  freely  supplied.  He  was  the  one  party  leader 
in  Pennsylvania  who  accepted  no  vacation  in  politics, 
and  while  others  were  letting  politics  run  their  course 
waiting  for  the  time  to  come  around  for  action,  Mackey 
covered  every  district  in  the  State  and  knew  with  almost 
absolute  certainty  who  would  be  delegates  to  the  State 
convention,  and  who  the  successful  candidates  for 
legislative  nominations  months  before  the  people  of  the 
local  districts  thought  of  agitating  the  subject.  He 
was  universally  popular,  a  delightful  and  genial  com- 
panion, a  most  unselfish  and  faithful  friend,  and  was 
scrupulous  to  the  last  degree  in  fulfilling  every  political 
obligation  that  he  made.  From  the  time  of  his  gener- 
ally accepted  leadership,  when  he  and  Quay  were  the 
nominal  lieutenants  of  Cameron  until  his  death,  he 
never  was  defeated  in  a  Republican  State  convention 
and  never  lost  control  of  a  single  Legislature. 

Mackey 's  omnipotence  as  a  leader  was  not  only  felt 
by  the  Republicans  of  the  State,  but  it  often  invaded 
the  lines  of  the  Dem.ocracy,  and  I  can  recall  several 
occasions  on  which  Mackey  absolutely  controlled  the 
final  action  of  the  Democratic  State  convention. 
He  had  the  personal  friendship  of  nearly  every  Demo- 
cratic senator  and  respresentative,  and  he  was  gener- 
ously kind  to  the  members  without  regard  to  their 
political  faith.  And  the  Greenback  organization,  that 
was  a  somewhat  formidable  political  factor  during 
his  leadership,  he  made  a  mere  plaything  in  his  hands. 


26o 


Old  Time  Notes 


He  became  the  substantial  owner  of  its  leaders,  and  on 
more  than  one  occasion  made  it  play  a  most  illogical 
part  by  which  he  saved  his  own  party  from  defeat. 
The  Republican  majority  in  the  State  was  not  then 
overwhelming,  and  for  many  years  the  Greenback 
party  held  the  balance  of  power  and  would  logically 
have  fused  with  the  Democracy  if  there  had  been 
resolutely  honest  Greenback  leadership.  But  for  his 
ingenious  control  of  political  factors  which  were  natur- 
ally hostile  to  the  Republican  party,  the  Republicans 
would  have  lost  the  Governor  in  1875,  when  Hartranft 
was  re-elected,  and  again  in  1878,  when  Hoyt  triumphed 
over  Dill. 

The  Democratic  leaders  would  appear  in  the  senate 
and  house  at  Harrisburg  breathing  implacable  hostility 
to  Mackey's  absolute  mastery,  but  before  the  session 
was  half  over  a  majority  of  them  would  be  found  co- 
operating with  Mackey  in  matters  of  mutual  interest, 
and  but  few  of  them  ever  remained  to  fight  the  battle 
to  a  finish.  His  strength  was  in  his  wonderful  knowl- 
edge of  men,  his  ingenious  adaptability  to  the  qualities 
of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  with  a  willing- 
ness to  render  service  to  any  and  all  whenever  possible, 
and  his  absolute  fidelity  to  his  pledges.  He  is  the  only 
one  of  all  the  great  leaders  I  have  known  in  Pennsyl- 
vania who  never  Avas  accused  of  deception  or  failure  in 
the  fulfillment  of  his  plighted  faith. 

While  Cameron  was  accepted  as  the  leader  of  the 
party,  he  was  simply  consulted  in  all  the  general  move- 
ments made  by  Mackey,  and  I  doubt  whether  Cameron 
ever  attempted  to  reverse  a  policy  that  had  been 
determined  upon  by  his  lieutenant.  No  man  in  the 
State  ever  wielded  the  same  power  in  the  Legislature 
for  a  full  decade  that  was  wielded  by  Mackey,  and  he 
always  strengthened  himself  by  rendering  the  kindest 
offices  to  all  who  had  any  just  claim  to  Legislative 


Of  Pennsylvania 


261 


action.  When  a  State  convenion  met  he  seldom  ap- 
peared in  it,  but  as  a  rule  he  dictated  every  movement 
that  was  made,  every  platform  that  was  adopted,  and 
every  candidate  who  was  nominated.  He  was  so 
infirm  in  health  that  he  was  often  unable  to  leave  his 
room,  and  I  have  seen  him  when  imable  to  leave  his 
bed,  and  when  his  doctor  forbade  any  disturbance,  turn 
the  doctor  out  of  the  room  and  receive  two  or  three 
of  his  leaders  who  needed  directions  from  their  master 
as  to  how  imexpected  complications  should  be  met. 
He  was  not  only  great  in  all  the  details  of  politics 
which  so  many  leaders  forget,  but  he  was  equally  great 
in  the  greatest  emergencies  which  arose  to  be  met  by 
the  party. 

When  he  was  State  treasurer  he  suffered  very  heavy 
loss  by  the  failure  of  Mr.  Yerkes,  then  a  banker  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  now  the  great  railway  magnate  of  London, 
but  his  friends  at  once  came  to  his  rescue,  and  some 
three  or  four  banks  of  the  State  placed  to  the  credit  of 
the  Commonwealth  the  full  amount  of  the  deficiency. 
The  treasury  then  always  carried  a  cash  account  of 
several  millions,  and  of  course  the  credits  thus  given, 
while  making  the  treasury  absolutely  solid,  were  not 
drawn  upon  by  the  State  treasurer  until  he  had  accumu- 
lated sufficient  money  to  make  the  deposits  good.  His 
power  over  the  Legislature  saved  him  in  that  emer- 
gency. The  period  had  come  when  the  State  war 
taxes  were  intolerably  oppressive,  especially  upon  our 
manufacturing  interests,  and  it  became  a  necessity  to 
repeal  the  taxes  to  save  many  manufacturers  from 
bankruptcy.  The  Legislature  had  been  appealed  to, 
but  it  was  always  unpopular  to  vote  to  relieve  the  rich 
of  taxes,  and  nothing  was  accomplished.  There  was 
but  one  man  who  could  bring  the  Legislature  to  the 
point  of  giving  the  relief  that  was  indispensable,  and 
that  man  was  Mackey.    A  combination  of  manufac- 


262 


Old  Time  Notes 


turers  was  effected,  and  proposed  to  give  a  large  per- 
centage of  one  year's  taxes  if  the  repeal  could  be  ac- 
complished. The  proposition  was  accepted  by  an 
outside  party,  but  in  fact  by  Mackey,  and  the  repeal 
was  accomplished,  and  Mackey 's  losses  were  more  than 
restored. 

Mackey  cared  but  little  for  money,  except  so  far  as 
he  needed  it  in  his  liberal  habits  of  life.  During  the 
decade  of  his  great  political  power  he  lived  largely  on 
whisky,  that  he  had  learned  to  use  chiefly  for  nourish- 
ment, but  he  never  reached  the  stage  of  intoxication. 
He  never  knew  what  it  was  to  enjoy  a  single  day  of  good 
health  during  the  period.  He  was  a  hopeless  con- 
sumptive, and  his  lungs  were  measurably  relieved  by 
maintaining  an  external  abscess,  the  healing  of  which 
would  have  been  speedily  fatal;  and  often  his  conver- 
sation would  be  interrupted  by  a  paroxysm  of  coughing 
so  violent  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  him  to  survive 
it,  but  when  he  mastered  it,  he  would  take  the  whisky 
stimulant,  and  proceed  with  his  conversation  as  com- 
placently as  if  he  were  in  the  most  robust  health. 

It  was  Mackey  who  saved  the  electoral  vote  of 
Florida  to  Hayes  in  1876.  When  the  contest  began 
after  the  November  election  the  leaders  of  both  parties 
were  giving  their  best  efforts  to  control  the  final  decla- 
ration of  the  vote  of  South  Carolina,  Florida  and 
Louisiana.  Mackey  was  selected  by  the  party  leaders 
to  visit  Florida  and  take  charge  of  the  management  of 
affairs  in  that  State.  He  had  purchased  the  Pitts- 
burg "  Commercial  "  from  Mr.  Brigham  a  few  years 
before,  and  Brigham  had  settled  in  Florida,  where  he 
had  become  a  political  power,  as  he  was  an  experienced 
politician  and  a  man  of  much  more  than  ordinary 
ability.  He  received  what  he  regarded  as  an  ample  com- 
petence by  the  sale  of  his  paper,  and  decided  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  his  days  on  an  orange  farm  in  Florida. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


263 


Mackey  started  on  the  same  train  and  in  the  same 
car  with  two  Democratic  representatives,  bent  on  the 
same  mission,  who  did  not  personally  know  Mackey. 
He  had  every  appearance  of  a  far -gone  invalid,  and  his 
distressing  cough  told  the  story  that  he  was  going  South 
in  search  of  sunshine  and  health.  He  overheard  a 
conversation  between  the  Democratic  representatives 
in  which  they  discussed  their  plans  and  determined 
in  full  detail  how  they  were  going  to  operate  in  Florida 
to  obtain  the  electoral  vote  of  the  State.  Mackey 
slipped  out  of  the  car,  prepared  a  telegram  to  Brigham, 
giving  the  precise  plans  of  the  Democratic  leaders,  and 
before  they  arrived  at  the  capital  of  the  State  all  their 
movements  were  completely  frustrated,  and  the  elec- 
toral vote  was  gained  for  Hayes. 

In  1869,  when  Governor  Geary  had  been  nominated 
for  re-election,  Mackey  was  not  enthusiastically  devoted 
to  Geary  and  would  have  been  quite  willing  to  see  him 
defeated  if  an  acceptable  Democrat  could  take  his 
place.  His  old  friend.  General  Cass,  was  a  candidate 
for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Governor,  and 
Mackey  exhausted  his  efforts  to  accomplish  the  success 
of  his  old  friend  and  benefactor.  Asa  Packer  was 
made  a  candidate  for  the  nomination  against  his  own 
wishes,  and  Thomas  Collins,  one  of  the  leading  railroad 
contractors  of  the  State,  then  possessing  ample  fortime 
and  considerable  political  experience,  was  devotedly 
attached  to  Packer. 

Mackey  ascertained  that  a  nimiber  of  commercial 
delegates  in  Philadelphia  could  control  the  nomination 
and  give  it  to  Cass,  and  without  communicating  with 
Cass  or  any  of  his  friends,  he  made  a  deal  with  these 
delegates  to  support  Cass,  and  put  up  his  own  checks 
for  $12,000.  "Tom"  Collins,  as  he  was  familiarly 
named,  found  that  the  Philadelphians  were  in  the 
market,  ascertained  the  price,  and  a  few  hours  before 


264 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  ballot,  he  gathered  up  $13,000  in  spot  cash,  paid  it 
over  to  the  contracting  leaders,  and  nominated  Packer. 
Neither  Cass  nor  Packer  had  any  knowledge  of  the 
efforts  made  to  purchase  delegates  in  their  interest,  and 
Collins  never  informed  Packer  of  the  expenditure  he 
had  made  to  secure  his  acceptance  as  a  Democratic 
candidate.  I  have  heard  Mackey  refer  to  this  incident 
as  an  evidence  that  in  an  emergency  spot  cash  will 
beat  checks. 

During  Mackey 's  rule  there  never  was  an  apportion- 
ment bill  passed  that  he  did  not  fashion,  and  when  in 
the  senate  and  legislating  to  conform  conditions  to  the 
new  Constitution,  I  recall  the  care  with  which  he  re- 
vised every  movement  that  was  made.  The  regular 
senatorial  term  was  to  be  four  years  thereafter,  and 
one-half  the  senate  was  to  be  elected  every  two  years, 
divided  by  odd  and  even  numbers.  He  had  the  dis- 
tricts arbitrarily  numbered  so  that  the  debatable  dis- 
tricts would  come  in  the  off-years,  when  under  his 
method  of  manipulation  it  was  always  possible  to 
carry  close  or  Democratic  districts. 

He  framed  every  tax  bill,  and,  by  the  generous  policy 
he  aided  the  corporations  in  obtaining,  he  greatly 
enlarged  their  taxes  and  chiefly  with  their  consent. 
He  studiously  avoided  everything  having  the  appear- 
ance of  arbitrary  legislative  action,  and  commanded 
practically  universal  confidence  from  all  the  great 
corporate  and  industrial  interests  of  the  State,  as  well 
as  the  confidence  of  the  people.  He  dictated  the  laws 
providing  for  the  contest  of  Presidential  electors,  and 
for  the  trial  of  all  other  disputed  elections  in  the  State. 
I  mention  these  facts  to  show  what  a  thorough  master 
Mackey  was  in  all  the  minutest  details  of  political 
management.  He  had  the  keenest  perception  to  devise 
the  most  plausible  methods  for  carrying  out  his  pur- 
poses, and  no  point  of  vital  interest  was  overlooked. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


265 


During  the  entire  period  of  Mackey's  Republican 
leadership  Wallace  and  Randall  were  the  Democratic 
leaders  of  the  State,  and  each  had  his  ardent  factional 
supporters  against  the  other.  They  were  seldom  in 
accord,  but  both  were  devoted  friends  of  Mackey,  and 
he  rendered  most  essential  service  to  them  that  was 
not  visible  to  the  public.  When  he  first  became 
omnipotent  in  legislative  control,  a  new  congressional 
apportionment  was  to  be  made,  and  it  was  not  only 
easy  to  make  all  the  congressional  districts  of  Phila- 
delphia strongly  Republican,  but  it  required  a  shoe- 
string district  running  along  the  wharf  from  South- 
wark  to  Richmond  to  corral  the  Democratic  maajority 
in  one  district. 

Naturally,  the  Republican  leaders  of  the  city  wanted 
a  Republican  district  in  place  of  Randall's,  but  Mackey 
stood  resolutely  against  it,  and  Randall's  district  was 
preserved  by  Mackey  and  afterward  by  Quay  imtil 
Randall's  death.  Randall  owed  his  district  wholly  to 
Mackey,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  in  many  ways 
Randall  reciprocated  the  kindness  when  it  could  be 
done  without  the  betrayal  of  his  party. 

Wallace  always  had  very  close  relations  with  Mackey, 
and  they  rendered  very  important  service  to  each 
other.  While  both  maintained  fidelity  to  their  respec- 
tive parties,  they  many  times  could  give  valuable 
personal  or  political  aid  to  each  other,  and  it  was  always 
done.  But  for  Mackey,  Wallace  would  have  been 
defeated  for  United  States  Senator  in  1875.  Buckalew 
had  become  greatly  offended  at  Wallace  for  refusing 
him  the  compliment  of  a  nomination  for  re-election  at 
the  expiration  of  Buckalew 's  term. 

Buckalew  Vv^as  intensely  embittered  and  went  to 
Harrisburg  and  got  more  than  enough  Democrats  in  a 
combination  to  defeat  Wallace's  election,  as  the  Demo- 
cratic majority  was  small  on  joint  ballot,    Mackey,  of 


266 


Old  Time  Notes 


course,  represented  the  Republicans  in  the  Legislature, 
and  knowing  that  only  a  Democrat  could  be  elected, 
was  sincerely  in  favor  of  Wallace  succeeding  without 
making  any  proclamation  of  his  wishes. 

Buckalew's  manager  proposed  to  Mackey  that  if 
Mackey  would  unite  the  Republicans  he  would  defeat 
Wallace  and  elect  any  Democrat  that  Mackey  might 
name.  It  was  a  plausible  proposition,  and  had 
Mackey  and  Wallace  been  in  the  earnest  political 
antagonism  that  their  surface  actions  indicated  it 
would  have  been  readily  accepted.  Mackey,  after 
apparently  holding  the  proposition  under  advisement 
until  near  the  time  of  election,  gave  as  his  ultimatum 
that  the  Republicans  would  unite  with  the  Buckalew 
Democrats  and  elect  any  Republican  United  States 
Senator  that  the  Democrats  might  name. 

He  knew  that  the  proposition  was  one  impossible  of 
acceptance,  and  that  it  would  end  in  Wallace's  election. 
I  was  present  in  Wallace's  room  in  the  Bolton  House 
with  a  number  of  his  leading  friends  on  the  day  before 
the  election  of  Senator,  when  he  received  information 
directly  from  Buckalew's  manager  that  the  contest 
was  ended,  and  that  they  would  yield  to  his  election 
because  they  could  not  succeed  with  any  other  Demo- 
crat. Buckalew  could  not  afford  to  elect  a  Republican 
Senator  in  a  Democratic  Legislature,  and  he  saw  that 
if  there  was  any  break  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  more 
than  enough  Republicans  to  elect  Wallace  would 
declare  that,  in  a  choice  between  Democrats,  they  pre- 
ferred him.  Thus  did  Mackey  make  himself  the  leader 
of  leaders  of  all  political  parties  in  the  State,  and  his 
record  of  leadership  stands  out  without  parallel  in  the 
history  of  Pennsylvania  politics. 

Mackey  made  his  great  battle  in  1878,  when  in  co- 
operation with  Cameron  and  Quay  he  nominated  Judge 
Hoyt  for  Governor,  one  of  the  ablest  men  who  ever 


Of  Pennsylvania 


267 


filled  the  position.  Political  conditions  were  very 
uncertain,  as  the  Greenbackers  swept  Maine  from  her 
Republican  moorings  at  the  September  election,  re- 
sulting in  Democratic-Greenback  fusion  to  control  the 
Governor  and  the  Legislature.  The  Greenback  element 
in  Pennsylvania  was  more  than  sufficient  to  wrest  the 
State  from  the  Republicans,  but  Mackey  controlled 
its  organization  as  absolutely  as  he  controlled  that  of 
the  Republicans. 

He  had  it  meet  first  and  nominate  a  candidate  who 
was  under  contract  not  to  surrender  to  fusion;  and 
having  the  Greenback  element  entirely  eliminated  as 
a  danger  signal,  with  Quay  as  chairman  of  the  State 
committee,  they  decided  to  open  the  campaign  by  a 
distinct  declaration  in  favor  of  the  sound  money  stand- 
ard. That  would  have  been  utterly  fatal  if  the  Green- 
back element  had  not  been  under  absolute  control,  but 
with  that  danger  entirely  eliminated,  it  was  the  win- 
ning card  for  the  Republicans  to  play.  The  result  was 
that  Hoyt  was  elected  by  22,353  plurality,  while  Mason, 
Greenback,  polled  81,758  votes. 

The  severe  strain  upon  Mackey  in  the  great  work  of 
wresting  victory  in  a  contest  where  the  people  voted 
some  60,000  against  him,  with  the  opposition  elements 
severed  only  by  the  most  consummate  leadership,  was 
too  great  for  Mackey 's  enfeebled  power.  He  went  to 
New  York  for  rest  immediately  after  the  election  to 
spend  a  week  or  two  with  his  friend  Daly,  who  nursed 
him  with  the  greatest  care,  but  finding  that  he  did  not 
improve,  his  great  desire  was  to  be  brought  to  his  home 
in  Pittsburg,  where,  after  a  few  weeks  of  suffering, 
the  greatest  of  all  our  Pennsylvania  politicians  quietly 
slept  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking. 


268 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXVI. 

GEARY  RE-ELECTED  GOVERNOR. 

The  Curtin  Element  Decided  to  Defeat  Geary  Because  the  Whole  Power 
of  His  Administration  Had  Been  Directed  to  Overthrow  Curtin — 
Chairman  Covode's  Conference  with  Mann  and  the  Author — Benja- 
min Harris  Brewster  Retired  from  Attorney  Generalship — F.  Carroll 
Brewster  Appointed — This  Change  Saved  Geary's  Election — How 
the  Border  Relief  Bill  Made  a  Judge — Brewster  and  the  Author 
Become  Close  Friends. 

THERE  is  always  a  general  relaxation  of  the 
strains  of  politics  after  an  exhaustive  National 
battle,  and  although  the  majority  for  Grant 
in  1868  was  large  in  both  the  popular  vote  and  the 
Electoral  College,  the  battle  was  a  desperate  one, 
and  was  desperately  fought  in  all  the  debatable  States 
from  Connecticut  to  the  Mississippi.  Pennsylvania, 
on  the  la;:-gest  poll  ever  cast  up  to  that  time,  gave  the 
Republicans  less  than  9,000  majority  at  the  October 
election,  and  New  York  was  carried  by  Seymour  against 
Grant  by  10,000. 

When  the  political  conflict  of  1869  came  along  the 
Republicans  of  Pennsylvania  were  not  eager  for  the 
fray.  A  Governor  and  supreme  judge  were  to  be  elected 
in  this  State,  and  as  Geary  was  an  earnest  candidate 
for  re-election,  and  had  the  active  support  of  Cameron, 
he  was  practically  without  competitors  before  the 
Republican  State  convention.  His  administration  had 
not  specially  strengthened  either  the  Governor  or  the 
party,  and  there  were  distinct  murmurs  of  hostility 
on  the  part  of  some  of  the  old  Curtin  followers,  and 
very  general  indifference  among  the  Republican  people 
generally.    Robert  W.  Mackey,  who  was  just  then 


Of  Pennsylvania 


269 


developing  as  a  leader  in  the  State,  having  been  State 
treasurer  for  one  term,  was  more  than  willing  to  allow 
Geary  to  be  defeated  if  he  could  control  the  Dem- 
ocratic nomination. 

I  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter  the  desperate 
effort  he  made  in  the  Democratic  convention  of  that 
year  to  nominate  General  George  W.  Cass  over  Asa 
Packer.  He  had  met  every  requirement  of  the  com- 
mercial Democratic  contingent  that  held  the  control 
of  the  nomination,  and  believed  that  he  had  secured 
the  success  of  his  old  benefactor  and  devoted  friend; 
but  just  on  the  eve  of  the  nomination  ''Tom"  Collins 
came  in  with  his  spot  cash  and  nominated  Packer. 
If  Cass  had  been  nominated  by  the  Democratic  con- 
vention he  would  certainly  have  been  elected,  as  Mackey 
would  have  shown  him  more  than  fair  play  on  the 
Republican  side.  All  that  the  Democrats  needed  that 
year  to  win  out  against  Geary  was  a  square  election 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  After  the  defeat  of  Cass, 
Mackey  was  quite  indifferent  as  to  Geary's  success, 
but  as  he  had  no  claim  upon  Packer's  friendship,  and 
had  nothing  favorable  to  expect  from  him  as  Governor, 
he  finally  decided  that  it  was  necessary  for  Geary  to 
be  elected,  and  he  was  party  to  the  arrangements 
made  in  Philadelphia  by  which  a  majority  was  returned 
in  the  city  sufficiently  large  to  give  him  a  second  term. 

Packer  and  Geary,  the  opposing  candidates  for  Gov- 
ernor, were  distinctly  opposing  types  of  men.  Packer 
was  severely  quiet  and  unassuming  in  all  his  relations 
with  men  in  public  and  private,  and  never  made  effort 
to  popularize  himself  with  the  masses.  He  devoted 
himself  strictly  to  his  great  business  operations,  and, 
outside  of  his  immediate  neighbors  in  the  Lehigh 
region,  he  was  little  personally  known  by  the  masses 
throughout  the  State.  He  had  long  struggled,  and 
often  on  the  very  verge  of  despair,  to  build  up  his 


270 


Old  Time  Notes 


great  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad  system,  and  when  he  had 
it  accomplished  it  absorbed  his  interests,  and  he  had 
no  taste  for  the  diversion  of  political  conflicts.  He 
was  forced  into  the  nomination  for  Governor  as  he 
had  been  the  year  before  forced  into  the  position  of 
being  presented  as  Pennsylvania's  Democratic  candi- 
date for  President.  Geary,  on  the  other  hand,  mingled 
with  the  people,  loved  display,  and  had  kind  words 
and  liberal  promises  for  all  who  came  within  the  range 
of  his  acquaintance.  His  administration  presented 
no  distinctly  discreditable  features,  and  there  were  no 
political  grounds  upon  which  he  could  be  assailed  with 
effect.  The  campaign  dragged  along  in  a  perfunctory 
way,  as  Packer  did  not  attempt  anything  like  a  canvass 
of  the  State,  and  Geary  was  not  a  formidable  political 
disputant. 

In  every  section  of  the  State  there  were  men  of 
prominence  and  ability  who  had  been  practically 
retired  from  politics  because  of  their  devotion  to  Cur- 
tin,  and  this  ostracism  the  Geary  administration  had 
aided  in  bringing  upon  them.  John  Covode  was  chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  committee,  and  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  the  political  elements  of  the  State. 
A  month  or  so  before  the  election  he  had  been  testing 
the  conditions  in  various  parts  of  the  Commonwealth, 
and  he  had  become  alarmed  at  what  was  at  least  abso- 
lute indifference  on  the  part  of  the  Curtin  people  ^  as 
well  as  a  large  measure  of  indifference  among  the 
Republican  voters  generally.  Colonel  Mann,  who  was 
the  Curtin  leader  of  Philadelphia,  had  been  forced  off 
the  ticket  the  year  before,  and  his  friends  generally 
were  made  strangers  to  both  National  and  State  party 
patronage.  He  was  still  the  great  leader  of  the  Repub- 
lican organization  of  the  city,  and  without  him  at  the 
front  Philadelphia  was  a  doubtful  political  problem. 
He  had  been  urged  to  take  the  stump  for  Geary  and 


Of  Pennsylvania 


271 


had  declined,  and  I  had  also  declined  a  similar  invita- 
tion on  the  ground  that  I  had  absolutely  retired  from 
active  participation  in  politics,  as  I  had  fully  deter- 
mined at  the  close  of  the  Grant  campaign,  when  I 
settled  in  Philadelphia,  to  practise  my  profession. 

Mann  and  I  occupied  the  same  suite  of  law  offices, 
and  Covode  called  upon  us  and  made  a  very  earnest 
appeal  to  both  of  us  to  go  to  the  front  in  support  of 
Geary's  re-election.  I  peremptorily  declined,  not  only 
because  it  was  then  my  purpose  to  retire  from  all  active 
political  efforts,  but  also  because  the  only  return  I  had 
received  from  Geary  for  earnestly  supporting  him 
three  years  before  was  systematic  personal  defamation 
from  his  own  cabinet.  Mann  declined  for  the  reason 
that  Geary  had  joined  in  the  systematic  and  relentless 
ostracism  of  all  of  Curtin's  friends  in  the  patronage  of 
both  National  and  State  administrations.  Covode 
became  greatly  alarmed,  as  he  well  knew  that  if  the 
anti-Cameron  men  of  the  State  decided  to  resent  the 
hostility  Geary  had  exhibited  to  them,  Geary's  defeat 
was  inevitable.  He  asked  whether  we  had  no  condi- 
tions to  propose  by  which  the  two  political  factions 
could  be  brought  into  accord  in  support  of  Geary,  but 
my  answer  was  that  the  only  political  desire  I  cherished 
was  to  be  entirely  relieved  of  all  political  obligations 
and  duties,  and  that  I  could  not  be  interested  in  Geary's 
re-election  while  he  had  as  attorney  general  a  man 
who  had,  without  any  provocation  whatever,  indulged 
in  public  defamation  of  my  political  record ;  and  Mann 
joined  in  the  declaration  that  there  could  be  no  hearty 
co-operation  in  support  of  the  ticket  from  the  anti- 
Cameron  people  while  Geary's  present  cabinet  remained 
in  office. 

Covode  asked  us  to  withhold  definite  answer  for  two 
or  three  days,  saying  that  he  would  meet  us  again.  On 
the  second  day  after  he  left  us  he  returned,  obviously 


Old  Time  Notes 


after  having  conferred  with  Governor  Geary,  and  made 
the  plain  proposition  to  us  that  Attorney  General 
Brewster  would  be  removed  from  office  immediately 
after  the  election,  and  any  person  appointed  as  his 
successor  whom  we  would  name.  We  both  answered 
that  if  the  proposition  should  be  seriously  entertained 
no  promise  of  a  change  in  the  State  cabinet  would  be 
accepted,  but  that  the  change  must  be  made  as  a  con- 
dition precedent  if  we  should  decide  to  accept.  This 
condition  required  Covode  to  ask  that  another  inter- 
view be  had  on  the  following  day,  as  he  evidently  had 
to  confer  further  with  his  chief.  He  saw  that  Mann 
was  inexorable,  and  he  certainly  knew  that  I  specially 
desired  not  to  become  involved  in  politics  at  all,  much 
as  I  was  tempted  to  renew  political  efforts  if  thereby  a 
change  in  the  State  cabinet  could  be  effected.  On  the 
following  day  Covode  appeared  again,  and  stated  that 
every  condition  we  had  proposed  would  be  accepted; 
that  an  immediate  change  would  be  made  in  the  attor- 
ney generalship  of  the  State,  and  that  any  reputable 
Republican  named  by  us  would  be  made  Brewster's 
successor.  We  accepted  his  proposition,  and  said  that 
if  he  would  return  to  our  office  in  an  hour  we  would 
name  the  new  attorney  general.  Covode  was  greatly 
elated,  as  he  believed  that  he  had  removed  the  most 
serious  danger  signal  of  the  campaign. 

When  Covode  left  us  I  asked  Mann  whom  he  wanted 
for  attorney  general,  to  which  he  answered  that 
Attorney  General  Brewster  merited  the  severest  pun- 
ishment that  could  be  inflicted  upon  him  because  of 
his  persistent  public  criticism  of  both  of  us.  He  sug- 
gested that  the  man  who  would  entirely  fill  the  bill 
was  Frederick  Carroll  Brewster,  the  half  brother  of 
Attorney  General  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster,  as  the 
appointment  of  Frederick  Carroll  would  be  the  severest 
humiliation  that  could  be  given. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


273 


Frederick  Carroll  Brewster  was  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished lawyers  of  the  Philadelphia  bar,  but  the 
two  half  brothers  had  never  been  upon  terms  even  to 
the  extent  of  personally  recognizing  each  other.  The 
sudden  removal  of  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster  from  the 
attorney  generalship,  with  Frederick  Carroll,  his  un- 
recognized half  brother,  as  his  successor  was  a  crushing 
blow  to  the  attorney  general,  and  it  came  like  a  bolt 
from  an  imclouded  sky.  He  was  then  at  Atlantic  City 
enjoying  a  rest,  and  the  first  intimation  he  had  of  the 
matter  was  a  request  from  the  Governor  for  his  resigna- 
tion. He  was  dumfounded  when  notified  that  his 
resignation  was  desired,  and  when  he  learned  who  was 
to  be  his  successor  he  peremptorily  refused  to  resign. 
Covode  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  Mann  and  myself  to 
allow  the  matter  to  go  over  until  after  the  election, 
personally  pledging  himself  that  the  change  would  be 
made,  but  we  both  peremptorily  refused,  and  the 
result  was  the  immediate  removal  of  Benjamin  Harris 
Brewster,  and  the  appointment  of  his  half  brother. 

But  for  this  cabinet  change  Geary  would  undoubt- 
edly have  been  defeated.  In  one  of  the  earlier  chap- 
ters, when  speaking  of  Asa  Packer  as  one  of  the  men 
who  was  a  leader  in  the  development  of  the  Lehigh 
region,  I  stated  the  fact  that  the  leaders  in  Philadelphia, 
in  a  conference  with  Mackey  some  time  after  the  elec- 
tion, met  for  the  purpose  of  deciding  whether  Geary's 
election  could  be  contested  without  involving  them- 
selves in  personal  peril.  Geary's  majority  in  the  State 
was  only  a  little  over  4,000,  being  less  than  the  majority 
returned  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  it  was  then 
alleged  to  be  largely  or  wholly  fraudulent.  The  frauds 
perpetrated  in  Philadelphia  were  not  conceived  and 
executed  for  the  purpose  of  electing  Geary,  but  the 
arrangement  made  by  Covode  with  Mann,  who  held 
the  machinery  of  the  city  in  his  hand,  made  him  willing 
2—18    ' 


274 


Old  Time  Notes 


that  Geary  should  profit  by  whatever  was  done  for 
the  election  of  city  officers  and  members  of  the  Legi- 
lature.  I  had  no  personal  knowledge  of  the  under- 
current political  movements  in  the  city  by  which  the 
Republicans  gained  a  decided  majority,  but  I  speak 
advisedly  when  I  say  that  the  leaders  who  managed 
Republican  affairs  in  the  city  more  than  doubted 
Geary's  honest  election,  and  he  was  the  only  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  who  entered  upon  the  highest  trust  of 
the  State  with  a  clouded  commission.  Johnson  was 
elected  in  1848  by  only  300  majority,  but  he  was  ac- 
cepted by  all  of  every  political  faith  as  the  honestly 
chosen  Executive. 

Governor  Geary,  who  was  entirely  ignorant  that  any 
other  than  legitimate  efforts  had  been  made  for  his 
success,  natu.rally  assumed  that  his  personal  strength 
had  given  him  the  victory,  and  immediately  after  his 
second  inauguration  in  January,  1870,  he  bloomed  out 
as  a  full-fledged  Presidential  candidate.  The  Repub- 
licans had  lost  all  of  the  debatable  States  in  the  elec- 
tion of  1869,  and  Geary  plumed  himself  on  his  personal 
victory  in  Pennsylvania.  There  were  already  distinct 
mutterings  not  only  throughout  Pennsylvania,  but 
throughout  the  North  generally,  against  the  adminis- 
tration of  Grant,  and  Geary  believed  himself  to  be 
fairly  in  line  for  the  succession.  He  was  entrenched 
in  the  Governorship  for  three  years  more,  and  logically 
all  who  needed  or  desired  his  favor  encouraged  him  in 
his  aspirations  for  the  Presidency.  He  struck  out 
boldly  for  various  reforms  to  popularize  himself  with 
the  people,  including  an  earnest  official  appeal  to  the 
Legislature  for  the  immediate  application  of  the  surplus 
money  in  the  treasury  to  the  reduction  of  the  State 
debt,  which  would  have  practically  put  the  State  treas- 
urer out  of  business,  as  the  only  profits  of  the  office  were 
in  his  use  of  several  millions  of  surplus  money.  He 


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275 


more  distinctly  emphasized  his  appeal  to  popular  favor 
by  his  veto  of  the  bill  for  the  construction  of  the  Pine 
Creek  Railway  by  the  use  of  the  credit  of  the  State, 
by  which  he  grievously  disappointed  Colonel  Scott 
and  others,  who  were  struggling  to  enlarge  the  railway 
system  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  who  had  made  the 
movement,  as  they  believed,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Governor. 

I  was  brought  into  more  friendly  relations  with 
Geary  during  his  second  term,  and  found  him  a  most 
useful  factor  in  gaining  an  additional  appropriation  of 
$300,000  to  the  people  of  Chambersburg.  They  had 
received  a  half  million  some  five  years  before,  and  most 
of  the  people  had  rebuilt  their  homes  and  business 
places  when  prices  were  the  highest  ever  known  because 
of  the  inflation  of  currency,  and  bankruptcy  finally 
threatened  most  of  them.  It  was  decided  to  appeal 
to  the  Legislature  for  additional  aid,  and,  although  I 
then  resided  in  Philadelphia,  I  was  called  upon  to  aid 
them  in  the  movement,  and  spent  some  weeks  at  Har- 
risburg  struggling  against  very  powerful  opposition  for 
the  relief  of  my  old  neighbors.  Governor  Geary  had 
agreed  that  he  would  approve  any  appropriation  bill 
the  Legislature  passed,  but  refused  to  take  the  initia- 
tive by  officially  recommending  it. 

There  was  little  prospect  of  success  for  the  measure 
until  a  vacancy  happened  in  the  Chambersburg  judicial 
district.  Francis  Jordan,  then  secretary  of  the  com- 
monwealth, was  a  brother-in-law  of  ex-Senator  Louis 
W.  Hall,  then  a  resident  of  Harrisburg,  and  of  William 
M.  Hall,  of  Bedford,  who  was  ambitious  to  succeed  to 
the  president  judgeship  of  the  district.  Geary  was 
naturally  desirous  to  serve  his  secretary  of  the  com- 
monwealth, who  was  a  most  creditable  public  officer. 
He  sent  for  me  and  proposed  that  if  I  would  get  the 
members  of  the  Chambersburg  bar  to  unite  in  recom- 


276 


Old  Time  Notes 


mending  Hall,  of  Bedford,  for  the  judgeship  he  would 
send  to  the  Legislature  a  special  message  in  such  terms 
as  I  desired,  recommending  the  appropriation  for  the 
relief  of  Ghambersburg.  It  is  proper  to  say  that  Mr. 
Hall  would  not  have  been  the  choice  of  the  members 
of  the  bar  of  Ghambersburg  for  the  judgeship.  If  he 
had  been,  no  such  proposition  would  have  been  made  to 
me.  I  arranged  by  telegraph  a  confidential  meeting 
of  the  entire  bar  of  Ghambersburg,  and  went  there  and 
presented  the  proposition  to  them.  They  were  very 
reluctant  to  unite  in  recommending  the  proposed  can- 
didate for  judge,  but  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
people  of  Ghambersburg  were  on  the  verge  of  bank- 
ruptcy, and  they  finally  agreed  that  if  Geary  would  send 
a  special  message  to  the  Legislature,  as  he  proposed, 
they  would  unite  in  naming  Hall  for  the  judgeship. 
I  returned  to  Harrisburg,  reported  to  the  Governor,  and 
he  at  once  asked  me  to  sit  down  at  his  desk  and  write 
the  message  I  desired.  I  did  so;  he  immediately 
had  it  copied,  signed  it,  and  sent  it  to  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature.  The  whole  force  of  the  adminis- 
tration was  earnestly  thrown  into  the  support  of  the 
appropriation,  and  it  was  by  that  arrangement,  and 
that  alone,  that  the  additional  $300,000  were  received 
by  the  Ghambersburg  sufferers.  Hall  was  appointed 
and  elected,  and  served  acceptably  as  judge  until  the 
judicial  apportionment  under  the  new  Constitution 
separated  Franklin,  leaving  him  the  president  judge 
of  the  Bedford  District. 

Geary  continued  as  a  hopeful  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  and  expected  to  unite  the  various  elements 
of  opposition  to  Grant.  The  first  National  convention 
of  1872  was  held  by  the  Labor  Reformers  in  Golumbus, 
and  Geary's  friends  very  actively  supported  his  nomi- 
nation. On  the  first  ballot  he  received  the  largest 
vote  of  any,  being  60  for  Geary  to  59  for  Horace  H. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


277 


Jay,  47  for  David  Davis  and  15  for  Wendell  Phillips, 
with  a  number  scattering.  On  the  fourth  ballot  David 
Davis  was  nominated,  with  Joel  Parker,  of  New  Jersey, 
for  Vice-President.  Had  Judge  Davis  been  nominated 
by  the  Liberal  Republican  convention  in  Cincinnati 
the  same  year  he  would  doubtless  have  remained  in 
the  field,  and  would  probably  have  been  elected,  but 
after  the  Liberal  Republicans  nominated  Greeley, 
Davis  and  Parker  both  declined,  and  the  Labor  Reform 
organization  was  practically  retired  from  the  contest. 
Geary  gave  a  luke-warm  support  to  Grant,  but  was  not 
thereafter  in  very  hearty  accord  with  his  party.  He 
served  through  his  second  term,  making  a  creditable 
record  and  suddenly  died  very  soon  after  he  retired 
from  the  Executive  chair. 

I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  Benjamin 
Harris  Brewster  beyond  one  or  two  very  casual  meet- 
ings, until  after  he  retired  from  the  attorney  general- 
ship. A  few  weeks  after  his  retirement  I  m^et  him  one 
afternoon  at  George  Lauman's,  whose  liquor  store  on 
Ninth,  below  Chestnut,  was  one  of  the  general  resorts 
of  the  town  for  politicians,  members  of  the  bar  and 
others  who  dropped  in  during  the  afternoon  because 
they  were  certain  to  meet  congenial  people.  When  I 
entered  the  room  there  were  probably  twenty  congre- 
gated there,  including  ex- Attorney  General  Brewster. 
He  immediately  arose,  advanced  half  way  across  the 
room  to  meet  me,  held  out  his  hand  and  said  in  the 
hearing  of  all,  ''I  want  very  much  to  know  the  man 
who  was  big  enough  to  dismiss  me  from  the  attorney 
generalship  of  the  State."  He  added  that  he  had 
greatly  misunderstood  me,  and  he  desired  thereafter 
that  we  should  be  friends,  saying  in  his  enthusiastic 
way  that  if  ever  he  could  be  of  service  to  me  he  was 
more  than  willing  to  do  so. 

From  that  time  until  the  day  of  his  death  I  had  no 


278 


Old  Time  Notes 


more  devoted  friend  than  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster. 
He  exhibited  it  on  various  very  important  occasions, 
and  it  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  when  I  had  oppor- 
tunity to  render  him  a  service,  as  I  did  when  he  entered 
the  cabinet  as  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States. 
When  I  was  counted  out  of  the  senatorship  at  the  special 
election  of  1872,  he  called  at  my  office  early  the  next 
morning,  volunteered  his  professional  services  without 
charge  to  aid  in  conducting  the  case,  and  during  the 
several  weeks  of  the  trial  he  was  constant  in  aiding 
Cassidy  and  Hagert.  He  also  volunteered  in  like 
manner  several  years  later  when  Naval  Contractor 
McKay  brought  eighteen  libel  suits  against  "The 
Times,"  including  a  civil  suit  for  $100,000  damages, 
and  confidently  expected  to  sell  out  "The  Times" 
and  send  its  editor  to  prison,  Brewster  came  forward, 
volunteered  to  join  in  the  defense  without  fee,  and, 
although  too  ill  to  appear  in  court  when  the  case  was 
tried,  he  rendered  very  important  aid  in  preparation 
for  the  trial.  When  President  Dauphin,  of  the  Louisi- 
ana Lottery  Company,  brought  suit  against  me  for 
$100,000  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  after  having  failed 
in  a  similar  suit  in  Pennsylvania,  I  called  on  Attorney 
General  Brewster  on  my  way  home,  and  he  voluntarily 
proposed  to  go  into  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
and  intervene  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  force 
the  hearing  of  the  Philadelphia  case  before  that  tribunal 
before  the  Louisiana  case  could  be  tried.  He  was 
none  the  less  devoted  to  Cameron,  but  there  never  was 
an  office  of  friendship  that  he  could  offer  in  my  interest 
that  was  not  freely  and  generously  given;  and  of  all, 
the  many  friends  who  have  fallen  in  the  race,  there  arcj 
few  whose  passing  away  I  more  sincerely  lamented 
than  that  of  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


279 


LXXVII. 

THE  ADVENT  OF  NEGRO  SUFFRAGE. 

Negroes  Vote  in  187 1  under  the  Fifteenth . Amendment — Large  Repub- 
lican Element  Opposed  Suffrage  for  the  Black  Man — Democratic 
Activity  Quickened  by  the  Issue — Colonel  Mann  Re-elected  District 
Attorney — Bitter  Feeling  in  the  Sections  of  the  City  Where  There 
Was  a  Large  Negro  Vote — Murderous  Riots  on  Election  Day,  and 
Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon  Murdered  on  the  Streets — None  of  the 
Offenders  ever  Brought  to  Justice — Immense  Public  Meeting  Called 
for  the  Conviction  of  the  Murderers — How  the  Negro  Vote  Was 
Demoralized. 

THERE  was  almost  a  dead  calm  in  Pennsyl- 
vania politics  in  1870,  when  there  were  no 
State  officers  to  elect.  No  Republican  State 
convention  was  held  in  1870,  and  there  was,  therefore, 
no  official  party  deliverance  on  the  subject  of  negro 
suffrage  that  was  attained  by  the  colored  race  that  year 
by  the  supreme  command  of  the  fundamental  law  of 
the  Nation.  The  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania  pro- 
vided that  all  ''white"  male  citizens  of  the  State, 
properly  qualified  as  taxpayers  and  residents,  should 
enjoy  the  right  of  suffrage.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who 
had  been  a  member  of  the  convention,  refused  to  sign 
the  Constitution  for  the  single  reason  that  it  contained 
the  word  ''white"  in  defining  the  qualification  of 
electors. 

The  question  of  negro  suffrage  had  been  made  an 
important  political  issue  after  the  adoption  of  the 
fourteenth  amendm^ent  to  the  National  Constitution, 
proclaimed  as  part  of  the  fundamental  law  on  the  28th 
of  July,  1868,  which  declared  the  negro  as  a  citizen 


28o 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  the  United  States,  and  provided  that  no  State  shall 
make  any  law  to  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States. ' '  That  amendment 
to  the  National  Constitution,  fairly  interpreted,  gave 
suffrage  to  the  negroes,  but  the  grant  was  hidden  under 
diplomatic  language,  and  was  not  accepted  by  any  of 
the  Northern  States.  Pennsylvania,  although  reliably 
Republican,  did  abridge  the  privileges"  of  the  colored 
citizens  by  denying  them  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the 
Republicans  of  the  State  on  the  hustings  and  in  their 
party  deliverances,  denied  that  the  fourteenth  amend- 
ment gave  suffrage  to  the  black  man.  A  very  large 
proportion  of  the  Republicans  were  unwilling  to  accept 
negro  suffrage,  and  had  it  been  enforced  under  the 
fourteenth  amendment  as  early  as  1868,  it  would  have 
been  disastrous  to  the  party.  Congress  did  not  assume 
to  control  the  question  of  suffrage  in  the  States,  as  that 
was  confessedly  a  State  prerogative,  but  it  provided 
that  where  any  particular  class  of  citizens  was  dis- 
franchised the  representation  in  Congress  should  be 
diminished  accordingly.  As  Pennsylvania  had  the 
word  ''white"  in  her  fundamental  law,  the  negro 
voter  was  excluded,  but  the  State  was  guilty  of  viola- 
tion of  the  fourteenth  amendment  by  abridging  the 
privileges  of  the  colored  citizen. 

The  fifteenth  amendment  to  the  National  Constitu- 
tion met  the  issue  boldly.  Its  full  text  is  as  follows: 
"  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by 
any  State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  con- 
dition of  servitude."  This  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution was  ratified  by  the  requisite  number  of  States, 
Pennsylvania  having  voted  for  its  ratification  on 
March  26,  1869,  and  it  was  officially  proclaimed  as 
part  of  the  Constitution,  March  30,  1870,  from  which 
date  the  colored  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  had  equal 


Of  Pennsylvania 


281 


right  of  stiff  rage  with  the  whites.  This  amendment 
to  the  National  Constitution  did  not  assume  to  regu- 
late the  question  of  suffrage  in  the  States,  but  it  simply 
protected  all  races  and  classes  of  citizens  from  discrimi- 
nation on  account  of  race.  It  left  the  States  free  to 
limit  suffrage  to  the  standard  of  property,  intelligence, 
residence,  payment  of  taxes,  etc.,  but  it  eliminated 
the  race  question,  and  required  that  every  privilege 
granted  to  the  whites  should  be  granted  to  the  blacks. 

Fortunately  the  issue  of  negro  suffrage  had  tq  be 
met  by  the  Republicans  in  Pennsylvania  in  1870,  when 
no  State  officers  were  to  be  chosen,  and  when  there 
were  no  National  issues  of  vital  interest  to  invite 
political  activity.  The  aggressive  hostility  to  negro 
suffrage  was  confined  to  particular  localities,  embracing 
the  slum  districts  of  Philadelphia  and  the  mining 
regions,  where  there  was  a  large  citizenship  of  foreign 
elements.  The  Irish,  as  a  rule,  were  specially  hostile 
to  negro  suffrage,  and  the  same  prejudices  obtained 
very  largely  with  the  most  of  our  mining  element; 
there  was  no  serious  contest  that  year,  and  no  special 
effort  was  made  to  organize  the  negroes,  as  no  State 
officers  were  to  be  chosen  and  no  exciting  contest  on 
local  places  to  be  filled  in  Philadelphia.  In  addition  to 
the  special  race  prejudices,  a  very  considerable  number 
of  native  Republicans,  including  some  of  large  intelli- 
gence, were  earnestly  averse  to  an  extension  of  suffrage 
that  would  bring  in  a  considerable  number  of  voters 
who  would  largely  increase  the  illiterate  voters  of  the 
State.  The  result  was  that  a  very  large  proportion, 
and  possibly  even  a  majority,  of  the  colored  voters 
of  Philadelphia  were  not  organized  and  equipped  for 
suffrage,  and  did  not  appear  at  the  polls. 

The  Democrats  organized  to  control  the  congressional 
districts  and  the  Legislature,  and  made  an  unusually 
successful  campaign.    They  could  not  hope  to  revolu- 


282 


Old  Time  Notes 


tionize  any  of  the  congressional  districts  of  Philadel- 
phia, as  nearly  all  the  Democratic  wards  were  in  Ran- 
dall's district,  and  the  other  four  districts  were  strongly 
Republican.  They  did,  however,  make  a  combina- 
tion in  the  Second  district  by  which  Charles  O'Neill, 
who  had  represented  the  district  for  a  number  of  years, 
was  defeated  by  J.  D.  Creely,  an  Independent  Repub- 
lican, by  nearly  a  thousand  votes.  Cessna,  Repub- 
lican, of  Bedford,  who  represented  the  Sixteenth  dis- 
trict, was  defeated  by  B.  F.  Meyers;  Morrell,  Repub- 
lican, of  Cambria,  who  represented  the  Seventeenth 
district,  was  defeated  by  R.  Milton  Speer;  Armstrong, 
Republican,  of  Lycoming,  who  represented  the  Eight- 
eenth district,  was  defeated  by  Herman  Sherwood; 
Gilfillin,  Republican,  of  Mercer,  who  represented  the 
Twentieth  district,  was  defeated  by  Samuel  Griffith; 
Henry  D.  Foster,  who  had  been  returned  as  elected  in 
the  Twenty-first  district,  but  was  ousted  in  a  contest 
with  Covode,  was  elected  in  that  district  over  Andrew 
Stewart,  and  Donley,  Republican,  of  Greene,  who 
represented  the  Twenty-fourth  district,  was  defeated 
by  McLelland. 

The  only  Democratic  district  gained  by  the  Repub- 
licans was  by  the  election  of  L.  D.  Shoemaker  in  the 
Luzerne  district,  over  the  late  Chief  Justice  McCollum. 
Cessna,  Morrell  and  Armstrong  were  all  defeated  by 
very  small  majorities.  Meyers'  returned  majority  over 
Cessna  was  15,  and  Cessna  contested,  but  failed  to 
obtain  a  seat  in  the  Republican  House.  Morrell  was 
defeated  by  1 1  and  Armstrong  by  2  7 ,  but  both  refused 
to  contest,  as  neither  was  willing  to  hold  a  seat  in 
Congress  on  a  doubtful  title.  The  Democrats  succeeded 
for  the  first  time  after  the  war  in  gaining  control  of 
the  State  senate,  as  the  new  Legislature  had  17  Dem- 
ocratic senators  to  16  Republicans.  The  Republicans, 
however,  had  12  majority  in  the  house.    There  is  no 


Of  Pennsylvania 


283 


reason  to  doubt  that  the  advent  of  colored  suffrage 
was  the  chief,  if  not  the  sole,  obstacle  to  Republican 
success  in  the  State  in  the  contest  of  1870. 

In  187 1  there  were  two  State  officers  to  be  elected — 
attorney  general  and  surveyor  general,  and  Quay 
asserted  his  political  power  by  nominating  Dr.  Stanton, 
of  Beaver,  for  auditor  general.  Stanton  was  a  repu- 
table village  physician  with  little  acquaintance  in  the 
State,  and  without  political  experience  in  leadership. 
He  was  nominated  solely  by  the  skillful  management 
of  Colonel  Quay,  and  General  Beath,  a  gallant  soldier, 
of  Philadelphia,  was  made  the  candidate  for  surveyor 
general.  The  Democrats  entered  the  campaign  with 
great  confidence,  relying  upon  the  question  of  negro 
suffrage  as  the  issue  that  would  give  them  victory. 
To  escape  criticism  for  the  attitude  of  the  party  in 
the  Civil  War,  the  Democratic  convention  unanimously 
nominated  General  McCandless,  of  Philadelphia,  for 
auditor  general,  and  Colonel  Cooper  for  surveyor 
general,  both  of  whom  stood  out  conspicuously  in  the 
list  of  Pennsylvania  soldiers  who  had  proved  their 
heroism  in  the  flame  of  battle,  and  they  made  quite 
an  aggressive  campaign.  The  Democrats  were  con- 
fident of  carrying  the  State  outside  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  Republicans  appreciated  their  peril  and  made 
exhaustive  effort  to  organize  Philadelphia  and  bring 
out  the  largest  majority  that  could  be  obtained. 

Colonel  Mann  had  passed  a  new  election  system, 
known  as  the  registry  law,  that  practically  placed  the 
whole  election  machinery  of  the  city  in  his  own  hands, 
for  he  was  then  the  absolute  commander  of  the  party 
organization.  It  enabled  him  not  only  to  name  the 
majority  of  the  officers  of  each  election  board,  but 
also  to  name  the  minority,  although  required  by  the 
law  to  have  a  minority  ostensibly  of  different  political 
faith  from  that  of  the  majority.    The  result  was  that 


284 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  election  boards  of  the  city,  in  the  districts  where 
election  frauds  were  common,  were  almost  or  entirely 
in  the  control  of  the  Republican  organization,  as  pur- 
chaseable  or  utterly  ignorant  Democrats  were  appointed 
as  minority  election  officers  where  voting  early  and 
often  was  the  rule,  while  in  the  districts  where  fraud 
was  tmknown  and  could  not  be  attempted  with  safety, 
Democrats  of  high  character  were  selected  as  the 
minority  officers. 

Mann  was  renominated  for  district  attorney,  and  he 
regarded  it  as  the  great  struggle  of  his  life  to  regain  his 
position,  from  which  he  was  compelled  to  retire  in 
1868  to  harmonize  the  party.  He  was  a  master  organ- 
izer, and  had  abundant  aid  in  his  political  lieutenants, 
and  ample  means  to  elect  himself  and  save  the  State 
ticket.  A  portion  of  the  old  anti-Mann  Republicans 
either  refused  to  vote  for  district  attorney,  or  cast  their 
votes  for  Furman  Sheppard,  his  opponent,  who  had 
filled  the  office  with  much  more  than  ordinary  credit. 
The  negroes  were  thoroughly  organized,  provided  with 
tax  receipts,  and  ward  and  division  leaders  were  given 
positions,  or  pay,  to  see  that  the  entire  negro  vote  was 
polled.  While  there  was  little  political  excitement 
throughout  the  State,  the  battle  in  Philadelphia  was 
one  of  the  most  desperate  that  was  ever  fought,  both 
sides  pressing  the  struggle  with  tireless  energy,  and 
employing  all  the  resources  they  could  command.  In 
the  districts  where  there  was  a  large  negro  vote,  and 
where  the  whites  were  below  the  average  of  general 
intelligence,  campaign  orators  devoted  themselves 
wholly  to  the  task  of  inflaming  the  prejudices  of  the 
ignorant  against  the  negro  as  a  voter,  and  threats  were 
made  all  through  those  regions  of  the  city  that  even 
violent  efforts  would  be  employed  to  prevent  the 
negroes  from  voting. 

The  negroes  \vere  aroused  on  the  subject,  as  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


285 


appeals  were  made  to  them  to  assert  their  rights  if 
they  ever  intended  to  enjoy  them,  and  solemn  deter- 
mination became  very  general  amongst  the  negroes. 
The  result  was  that  many  riots  occurred  in  the  down- 
town portions  of  the  city,  where  there  was  a  large  negro 
vote,  and  three  negroes,  Messrs.  Cato,  Chase  and  Gor- 
don, were  murdered  on  the  streets,  and  more  than  a 
score  were  seriously  wounded  by  murderous  attacks 
made  upon  the  negroes  when  they  attempted  to  vote. 
Professor  Cato  was  one  of  the  most  cultivated  negroes 
of  the  city,  and  neither  he  nor  Chase  nor  Gordon  was 
guilty  of  any  provocation  whatever  beyond  his 
appearance  at  the  polls  to  exercise  his  rights  as 
a  citizen.  The  Republicans  carried  the  city  by  some 
13,000  majority,  and  the  majority  for  the  Republican 
candidate  for  auditor  general  in  the  State  was  little 
more  than  a  thousand  in  excess  of  the  majority  received 
in  the  city.  General  Beath,  who  was  a  most  gallant 
soldier  and  popular  with  the  Grand  Army,  had  over 
20,000  majority  in  the  State,  and  Mann  was  returned 
to  the  district  attorney's  office  by  a  majority  con- 
siderably less  than  that  received  by  the  Republican 
State  candidates. 

The  Democrats  lost  the  senate  by  one  majority,  the 
senators  elected  standing  seventeen  Republicans  to 
sixteen  Democrats,  but  after  the  election,  and  before 
the  Legislature  met.  Senator  Connell,  of  the  Fourth 
district  in  Philadelphia,  died,  leaving  the  senate  stand- 
ing sixteen  to  sixteen,  but  the  Republicans  had  a  dozen 
majority  in  the  house  and  on  joint  ballot.  The  senate 
remained  a  tie  until  the  30th  of  January,  when  a  special 
election  was  held,  in  which  Colonel  Henry  W.  Gray 
was  returned  as  elected  over  me  as  an  independent 
candidate,  but  on  a  contest  he  was  displaced  and  the 
seat  given  to  me. 

It  was  wholly  Colonel  Mann's  battle  in  the  city  of 


286 


Old  Time  Notes 


Philadelphia,  and  it  was  generally  accepted  that  upon 
him  depended  the  result  in  both  city  and  State.  His 
single  ambition  was  to  regain  the  district  attorneyship, 
believing  that  once  recalled  to  it  by  the  people  of  the 
city  he  could  hold  it  indefinitely.  While  Philadelphia 
has  had  great  public  prosecutors,  such  as  William  B. 
Reed,  Furman  Sheppard,  Henry  S.  Hagert  and  Lewis 
C.  Cassidy,  who  held  the  position  for  a  brief  period, 
it  was  not  disputed  that  Mann  was  the  ablest  all- 
around  prosecutor  who  ever  filled  the  position.  He  was 
a  man  of  the  tenderest  sensibilities,  and  often  in  the 
discharge  of  his  ofiicial  duties  strained  the  law  to  serve 
the  mission  of  mercy,  but  when  great  cases  came  into 
the  oyer  and  terminer  and  he  was  called  upon  to 
summon  his  masterly  abilities  for  the  battle  no  man 
could  have  surpassed  him.  either  as  trial  lawyer  or 
advocate.  His  theory  of  the  proper  method  of  regain- 
ing political  control  in  Philadelphia  seemed  to  stand 
vindicated  by  his  re-election,  and  he  felt  confident 
that,  with  the  control  of  the  election  machinery  of  the 
city  in  his  own  hands,  his  power  could  be  perpetuated 
indefinitely.  In  this  he  erred  as  nearly  or  quite  as  all 
political  leaders  err  at  some  period  of  their  careers. 
The  registry  law,  by  which  he  had  practically  made 
the  Democrats  voiceless  in  the  control  of  the  election 
boards  of  the  city,  aroused  most  violent  opposition, 
and  was  the  chief  inspiration  to  the  early  revolution 
that  swept  him  out  of  office  by  humiliating  defeat 
three  years  later,  and  forced  the  constitutional  con- 
vention that  effaced  the  registry  law  and  all  its  objec- 
tionable features  from  the  statutes  of  the  State. 

The  one  ineffaceable  stain  upon  the  administration 
of  justice  in  Philadelphia  is  the  fact  that  none  of  the 
murderous  rioters  of  election  day  in  187 1  who  killed 
Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon  and  wounded  many  others, 
were  ever  brought  to  justice.    Considering  that  Phila- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


287 


delphia  had  a  Republican  city  administration,  prosecut- 
ing officer  and  largely  Republican  judiciary,  and  that 
Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon  gave  their  lives  in  an  unoffend- 
ing effort  to  exercise  the  right  of  citizenship  by  voting 
the  Republican  ticket,  it  is  a  blistering  reproach  upon 
Philadelphia  that  not  one  of  the  criminals  ever  made 
atonement  before  the  law.  It  was  common  in  those 
days,  and  for  years  thereafter,  for  Republican  speakers 
to  accuse  the  South  of  hindering  negro  suffrage  by 
violence  and  at  times  by  murder,  but  here  in  Philadel- 
phia, the  Republican  citadel  of  the  State,  three  murders 
were  committed  on  the  public  streets  in  open  day, 
and  a  score  or  more  wounded  solely  because  they 
attempted  in  an  unoffending  manner  to  exercise  their 
right  as  citizens  and  electors,  and  not  a  single  criminal 
was  brought  to  punishment.  If  the  murders  had  been 
committed  under  cover  of  night  and  in  the  absence  of 
witnesses,  there  might  be  some  excuse  for  not  discover- 
ing the  guilty  parties ;  but  here  was  murder,  red-handed, 
at  noonday,  in  the  public  streets  of  the  city,  and  not 
a  pistol  was  fired  or  a  knife  drawn  with  murderous 
intent  that  was  not  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  Sev- 
eral persons  were  arrested,  but  they  were  not  the  real 
guilty  parties,  and  the  failure  to  discover  who  the  mur- 
derers were  and  bring  them  to  justice  can  be  explained 
only  by  the  assumption  that  lawless  political  interests, 
which  at  times  serve  fraudulent  elections,  were  potent 
enough  to  shield  the  murderers  of  the  black  men  whose 
exercise  of  suffrage  in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  was 
made  in  the  baptism  of  their  own  life's  blood. 

The  murder  of  Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon  aroused 
public  sentiment  to  aggressive  action,  and  within  a 
few  days  after  the  election  when  the  murders  were 
committed,  a  public  meeting  was  called  in  Concert 
Hall,  that  was  crowded  to  its  uttermost  with  leading 
citizens  and  presided  over  by  ex-Gpvernor  Pollock. 


288 


Old  Time  Notes 


A  number  of  speeches  were  made  and  resolutions 
adopted  demanding  the  prompt  arrest  and  punishment 
not  only  of  the  murderers  of  Cato,  Chase  and  Gordon, 
but  of  all  who  had  attempted  by  violence  to  prevent 
colored  voters  from  exercising  the  right  of  suffrage. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  worst  elements  of  the  colored 
people  were  aroused  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  their 
race,  and  the  lawlessness  of  the  whites  was  a  direct 
appeal  to  the  baser  elements  of  the  blacks  to  resort  to 
lawlessness  in  vindication  of  their  rights. 

The  violence  resulting  in  murder  and  serious  injuries 
to  many  at  the  election  of  187 1,  laid  the  foundation 
for  the  demoralization  of  a  large  portion  of  the  colored 
voters  of  the  city.  They  saw  that  the  whites  could 
resist  them  by  violence  without  punishment,  and  they 
were  inflamed  to  violent  political  efforts,  which  were  at 
times  inspired  by  corrupt  compensation,  to  organize 
for  the  pollution  of  the  ballot ;  and  considering  the  con- 
ditions which  then  existed,  with  their  limited  oppor- 
tunities for  appreciation  of  the  sanctity  of  citizenship, 
they  are  much  less  to  blame  for  their  demoralization 
than  are  those  who  taught  them  the  way  to  crime. 

Had  the  negroes  been  welcomed  by  their  white 
fellow-citizens  to  the  dignified  citizenship  the  supreme 
law  of  the  Nation  had  given  them,  there  would  have 
been  an  immense  number  of  them  ready  to  accept  a 
just  appreciation  of  its  solemn  responsibilities,  and  to 
teach  their  race  the  necessity  of  dignifying  their  citizen- 
ship, and  proving  that  it  had  not  been  unworthily 
bestowed ;  but  no  such  helping  hand  has  been  given  to 
the  negroes  in  this  city,  and  to-day,  with  honorable 
exceptions  to  be  found  in  every  section  of  the  city, 
the  colored  voters  are  rated  as  mere  commercial  quan- 
tities in  politics.  They  long  held  control  of  the  political 
power  of  the  city,  and  had  they  been  organized  by  the 
honest  aid  to  which  they  were  justly  entitled  from  their 


Of  Pennsylvania 


289 


white  fellow-citizens,  they  would  not  only  have  been 
a  credit  to  our  voting  population,  but  their  men  of 
culture  and  distinction  would  have  been  called  to 
positions  of  public  trust,  and  thus  invited  all  to  fit  them- 
selves to  win  public  confidence  and  political  advance- 
ment; but  with  all  the  power  they  possessed,  we  have 
never  nominated  a  colored  man  in  Philadelphia  for  a 
political  position  above  the  office  of  councilm.an;  not 
one  has  ever  sat  in  the  Legislature,  not  one  has  been 
nominated  for  any  of  the  city  offices,  not  one  has  been 
thought  of  for  Congress,  and  they  were  denied  even 
representation  on  the  police  of  the  city  until  Mayor 
King,  Democrat,  elected  nearly  a  decade  after  the 
negroes  had  been  enfranchised,  first  promoted  them 
to  positions  on  the  police.  For  this  demoralization 
the  black  man  should  not  be  held  solely,  or  even  chiefly, 
responsible,  for  the  crime  was  not  only  made  possible, 
but  it  was  practically  enforced  by  the  political  methods 
of  the  white  man. 


2 — 19 


290 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXVIII. 

THE  McCLURE-GRAY  SENATORIAL 
CONTEST. 

Serious  Revolt  Against  the  Methods  of  the  Grant  Administration — Death 
of  Senator  Connell  Made  a  Special  Senatorial  Election  in  January, 
1872 — Republican  Leaders  Tendered  the  Place  to  the  Author,  But 
with  Conditions  That  Could  Not  Be  Accepted — Interposition  of 
President  Grant  Led  to  the  Author's  Final  Acceptance  of  the  Candi- 
dacy— Colonel  Scott  Dined  with  President  Grant  and  Cameron  and 
Urged  to  Force  the  Author  to  Retire  from  the  Contest — A  Tempestu- 
ous Political  Struggle  of  Ten  Days — Nineteenth  Ward  Rounders 
Decide  That  the  McClure  Meeting  Should  Not  Be  Held— How  They 
Were  Finally  Persuaded  to  Peace. 

THE  year  1872  opened  with  the  Republican  sky 
overcast  by  clouded  harmony  and  murmurs 
of  discontent  were  heard  in  every  section  of 
the  State  and  country.  A  large  number  of  the  ablest 
Republican  United  States  Senators  had  become  aggres- 
sively estranged  from  President  Grant,  who  had  entered 
the  highest  civil  trust  of  the  Nation  an  entire  stranger 
to  experience  in  civil  administration,  and  had  appar- 
ently not  attempted  to  learn  the  difference  between 
civil  and  military  authority.  A  President  who  had 
provoked  the  open  opposition  of  such  Senators  of  his 
own  party  as  Lyman  Trumbull,  of  Illinois;  Charles 
Sumner,  of  Massachusetts;  Carl  Schurz,  then  of  Mis- 
souri, and  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  of  New  York,  certainly 
exhibited  a  lack  of  the  qualities  of  statesmanship. 
These  eminent  leaders  of  the  party  were  not  offended 
because  of  disappointment  in  the  distribution  of 
political  favors.    They  represented  the  able  and  inde- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


291 


pendent  statesmanship  of  the  Nation,  and  throughout 
the  ranks  of  the  party  in  every  section  of  the  country 
there  was  very  general  discontent  with  the  adminis- 
tration of  Grant,  who,  like  the  Bourbons  of  old,  had 
learned  nothing  and  forgotten  nothing  in  nearly  four 
years  of  civil  administration. 

By  the  upheaval  of  1872,  although  he  escaped  defeat 
by  the  folly  of  the  opposition,  he  was  somewhat  tem- 
pered and  liberalized  in  his  views,  but  he  never  fully 
broadened  out  to  the  highest  stature  of  both  military 
and  civil  manhood  until  after  his  retirement  from  the 
Presidency  at  the  expiration  of  two  terms.  He 
journeyed  around  the  world,  and  came  in  much  closer 
contact  with  the  people  than  ever  before,  and  had  he 
been  nominated  and  elected  President  in  1880,  when  his 
friends  made  a  desperate  battle  for  a  third  term  in 
Chicago,  I  doubt  not  that  he  would  have  made  as  nearly 
a  faultless  President  as  any  who  had  ever  filled  the 
position.  In  1872,  however,  he  rejected  the  counsels 
of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  his  policy,  and  obsti- 
nately invited  defeat  by  driving  outside  the  party 
battlements  very  many  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  the 
Republican  party. 

Revolt  was  exhibited  in  every  part  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  especially  in  Philadelphia,  where  opposition  to 
ring  rule  had  been  intensified  to  the  uttermost  by  the 
violent  fall  election  of  1871.  Open  rebellion  was 
threatened  on  every  hand.  The  issue  in  Philadelphia 
was  suddenly  precipitated  in  the  first  month  of  the 
year.  George  Connell,  who  had  served  four  terms  in 
the  senate,  and  was  elected  to  the  fifth  term  on  the 
loth  of  October,  187 1,  died  within  two  weeks  after  his 
election,  leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  senate  that  then 
stood  sixteen  Democrats  and  sixteen  Republicans. 
Although  Mr.  Connell  died  on  the  27  th  of  October, 
more  than  tv/o  months  before  the  meeting  of  the  Legis- 


292 


Old  Time  Notes 


lature,  it  was  held  that  the  speaker  of  the  senate  could 
not  issue  a  writ  for  a  special  election  until  the  Legis- 
lature met  and  had  official  notification  of  the  vacancy. 
The  result  was  that  the  writ  was  not  issued  until  the 
first  week  in  January,  and  the  30th  of  the  month  was 
fixed  for  the  special  senatorial  election. 

I  had  taken  no  part  in  politics  after  locating  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1868,  not  only  because  I  felt  that  I  had 
performed  my  full  share  of  political  service,  but  because 
my  unfortunate  financial  condition  demanded  that  I 
should  devote  my  energies  to  my  profession.  I  had 
not  delivered  a  political  speech  during  my  residence 
in  Philadelphia,  with  the  single  exception  of  a  brief 
address  at  the  indignation  meeting  held  after  the  elec- 
tion of  1870  to  denounce  the  murderous  attacks  made 
upon  the  colored  men,  resulting  in  the  death  of  Cato, 
Cliase  and  Gordon,  and  really  had  no  part  in  the  political 
movements  in  the  city  beyond  two  political  episodes 
relating  to  Geary's  cabinet  and  the  special  election  of 
a  senator  in  the  city,  which  have  been  described  in 
earlier  chapters.  Having  been  overwhelmingly  bank- 
rupted by  the  destruction  of  Chambersburg  and  rebuild- 
ing at  the  highest  prices  for  material  and  labor,  I 
desired  only  to  be  free  to  give  my  whole  energies  to 
business.  I  had  been  a  resident  of  the  city  only  a 
little  more  than  three  years  and,  of  course,  had  no 
thought  of  being  considered  eligible  for  any  city  office, 
but  a  number  of  prominent  business  men,  largely  inter- 
ested in  the  general  development  of  the  State  and  in 
liberal  legislation  to  aid  them,  personally  appealed 
to  me  to  become  a  candidate  for  senator.  Among 
them  were  Colonel  Scott,  whose  vast  railway  interests 
were  yet  in  their  infancy  as  compared  with  the  progress 
attained  to-day, and  William  G.  Moorehead,  Jay  Cooke's 
partner  in  what  was  then  one  of  the  greatest  banking 
houses  of  the  country,  both  of  v/hom  had  gone  through 


Of  Pennsylvania 


293 


desperate  legislative  struggles  to  enable  them  to  develop 
the  wealth  of  the  State,  with  a  number  of  the  leading 
business  houses  largely  interested  in  municipal  and 
legislative  reform.  They  earnestly  urged  me  to  con- 
sent to  serve  if  elected,  and  they  made  like  earnest 
appeals  to  the  political  leaders  of  the  city,  whose 
power  over  nominations  was  absolute,  to  tender  me 
the  nomination. 

They  knew  that  I  was  not  in  accord  with  the  pro- 
fligate rule  of  the  city  and  that  I  was  specially  opposed 
to  the  registry  law  and  the  dishonest  political  methods 
by  which  political  power  was  so  often  maintained. 
Fearing  that  the  district  might  be  in  danger,  the  leaders 
finally  agreed  that  they  would  tender  me  the  unani- 
mous nomination.  That  would  have  meant  an  elec- 
tion without  a  contest,  making  the  one  condition,  how- 
ever, that  I  should  not  attempt  to  repeal  the  registry- 
law.  A  committee,  consisting  of  William  H.  Kemble, 
John  L.  Hill  and  James  McManes,  called  upon  me  and 
urged  me  to  accept  the  nomination  with  the  condition 
annexed.  I  told  them  frankly  that  I  had  openly 
opposed  and  denounced  the  registry  law  from  the  time 
it  was  first  presented  to  the  Legislature  as  a  disgrace 
to  the  Republican  party  and  a  reproach  upon  every 
intelligent,  honest  Republican  citizen  of  Philadelphia, 
and  that  I  could  not  accept  the  condition.  They 
answered  frankly  that  I  could  not  be  nominated,  to 
which  I  replied  that  as  I  sincerely  desired  not  to  be 
elected  senator  there  were  no  regrets  on  my  part,  and 
I  believed  that  the  incident  was  closed.  After  further 
consultation  the  same  committee  returned  with  a 
modified  proposition,  that  they  would  give  me  the 
unanimous  nomination  for  senator  and  instruct  me 
to  support  the  registry  law,  assuming  that  I  could 
avoid  opposing  it  because  of  the  instructions  under 
which  I  was  nominated.    I  answered  that  if  the  nomi- 


294 


Old  Time  Notes 


nation  was  accepted  with  such  instructions  it  would 
be  the  duty  of  the  person  nominated  to  obey  them, 
but  that  I  could  not,  under  any  circumstances,  enter 
the  senate  without  entire  freedom  to  urge  an  honest 
election  law.  That  ended  the  conference,  and,  as  I 
supposed,  eliminated  me  entirely  from  the  senatorial 
contest,  much  to  my  own  gratification. 

A  few  days  thereafter  William  G.  Moorehead  came 
into  my  office  and  said  that  he  desired  to  make  a 
personal  explanation  in  confidence.  He  had  in  his 
hand  a  paper  that  I  had  not  seen  or  heard  of,  signed  by 
himself  and  some  fifty  or  more  prominent  citizens  of 
the  ward  in  which  I  lived,  urging  me  to  accept  the  nomi- 
nation for  senator.  He  had  not  been  advised  of  what 
had  transpired  between  the  political  leaders  and 
myself,  and  supposed  the  question  was  still  an  open 
one.  He  said  he  very  much  desired  my  election  to 
the  senate,  as  he  had  been  one  of  the  first  and  most 
earnest  in  urging  me  to  become  a  candidate,  but  that 
he  had  just  received  from  Washington  official  informa- 
tion that  would  place  him,  or  any  other,  in  antagonism 
to  the  President  who  favored  my  election  to  the  senate. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  who  had  signed  the  paper,  and 
he  asked  my  permission  to  erase  his  name  from  it,  but 
added  that  while  he  could  take  no  public  part  in  the 
contest  he  would  gladly  aid  my  election  if  I  became  a 
candidate  to  any  extent  within  his  power,  and  he 
proved  his  sincerity  by  a  $1,500  contribution  to  the 
cause.  I  asked  him  to  let  me  see  the  paper,  and  he 
handed  it  to  me.  After  looking  over  it  I  threw  it  into 
the  open  fire  and  said  that  I  fully  understood  the 
delicacy  of  his  position,  and  that  as  the  paper  was  now 
destroyed  he  was  entirely  relieved.  I  added  that  now, 
for  the  first  time,  I  felt  inclined  to  become  a  candidate 
for  senator.  But  for  that  incident  I  am  quite  sure 
that  under  no  circumstances  could  I  have  been  drawn 


Of  Pennsylvania 


295 


into  a  political  contest  at  that  time.  The  insolence  of 
power  as  exhibited  by  a  President  dictating  to  the 
banker  of  the  government  whom  he  should  support 
or  oppose  for  a  local  legislative  office  provoked  me  to 
defiant  resentment. 

I  immediately  called  together  at  Colonel  Scott's 
office  half  a  dozen  or  more  of  those  who  had  been 
insisting  upon  my  candidacy,  and  said  to  them  that  I 
was  ready  to  make  the  battle,  not  as  the  candidate 
of  the  organization,  but  against  it,  if  they  were  willing 
to  support  me,  and  they  all  heartily  assented.  It 
meant  a  desperate  struggle  against  fearful  odds,  but 
I  felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  some  one  must 
lead  a  revolution  and  the  duty  seemed  to  devolve  on 
me.  There  were  a  number  of  prominent  candidates 
for  the  Republican  nomination  for  the  senatorship 
when  it  became  known  that  my  name  was  not  to  be 
presented,  and  after  a  desperate  contest  Henry  W. 
Gray,  then  councilman  from  the  Twenty-second  ward, 
and  prominent  as  the  head  of  a  piano  manufacturing 
company,  a  position  that  he  has  filled  for  many  years 
with  credit,  was  nominated.  Within  twenty-four 
hours  after  the  nomination  was  made,  a  letter  was 
delivered  to  me  signed  by  some  800  citizens  of  the 
district,  embracing  the  names  of  the  leading  business 
men  and  manufacturers,  asking  me  to  become  an  inde- 
pendent reform  candidate  for  senator,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowing day  I  published  a  letter  of  acceptance,  leaving 
but  ten  days  in  which  to  make  the  battle  in  the  dis- 
trict. There  was  not  a  reform  organization  in  a  single 
ward  of  the  district,  and  I  was  in  the  position  of  a 
bankrupt  candidate  starting  out  without  organization, 
or  any  of  the  ordinary  political  resources,  to  give  battle 
to  a  compact  political  combination  that  had  created 
the  election  board  in  every  division  of  the  district, 
and  that  could  command  tens  of  thousands  to  bring 


296 


Old  Time  Notes 


out  the  vote  and  compensate  fraud,  but  the  time  was 
ripe  for  rebelHon,  and  I  could  do  no  less  than  accept 
the  responsibility. 

The  same  influence  that  made  Mr.  Moorehead  with- 
draw from  open  support  at  a  time  when  I  had  no 
longer  thought  of  being  a  candidate  reached  Colonel 
Scott.  Cameron  was  in  the  Senate  and  the  next  Legis- 
lature was  to  elect  his  successor.  He  knew  that  I  was 
not  in  favor  of  Grant's  nomination,  as  Grant  well  knew 
himself,  and  Cameron,  knowing  my  close  relations 
with  Colonel  Scott,  believed  that  through  Scott  my 
retirement  could  be  enforced.  Scott  sent  for  me  the 
evening  of  the  day  that  I  announced  myself  as  a  candi- 
date, and  informed  me  that  he  was  going  South  that 
night  and  would  probably  be  away  until  after  the  elec- 
tion. He  stated  that  he  would  stop  in  Washington, 
where  he  was  to  dine  with  Cameron  and  the  President 
on  the  following  day;  that  he  might,  after  confer- 
ence with  friends  in  Washington,  change  his  mind 
as  to  the  advisability  of  my  continuing  as  a  candi- 
date in  the  district;  "  but,  "  said  he,  you  were  always 
obstinate  and  I  don't  suppose  that  it  would  make  any 
difference  if  I  did  advise  you  to  withdraw. ' '  I  told 
him  that  such  a  contingency  would  doubtless  be  met 
to  his  entire  satisfaction.  He  obviously  meant  me  to 
fully  understand  that  any  advices  he  gave  me  from 
Washington  were  not  to  be  accepted,  and  without  fur- 
ther conversation  on  the  subject  the  matter  was  fully 
understood  by  both. 

On  the  following  day  Scott  dined  with  the  President 
and  Cameron  and  the  question  of  the  Philadelphia 
senatorship  was  the  chief  theme  of  discussion.  Cam- 
eron said  that  there  was  a  very  short  way  to  settle  it; 
that  I  was  bankrupt  and  largely  dependent  upon  Scott 
in  the  practice  of  my  profession,  and  that  if  Scott 
demanded  my  retirement  I  would  noc  refuse  obedience. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


297 


Scott  reminded  Cameron  that  he  had  many  oppor- 
tunities to  discover  how  obstinate  I  v/as  in  poHtical 
conflicts,  and  that  he  very  much  doubted  whether  he 
could  accompHsh  my  withdrawal.  He  agreed,  however, 
that  he  would  send  to  me  any  despatch  that  Cameron 
might  prepare.  After  dinner  the  work  of  preparing 
a  despatch  for  Scott  to  send  to  me  was  gravely  con- 
sidered by  the  President  and  the  party,  and  Cameron 
finally  drafted  one  that  seemed  to  be  satisfactory  to 
all.  It  stated  that  Scott,  after  intercourse  with  a 
number  of  friends  and  on  mature  reflection,  was  fully 
convinced  that  it  would  be  most  unfortunate  for  me 
to  make  the  battle  for  senator  and  urged  me  to  retire. 
After  the  message  had  been  fashioned  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  the  party  and  was  about  to  be  sent  to 
the  telegraph  operator,  Cameron  called  a  halt  and  said 
that  as  Scott  was  going  South  and  would  not  be  home 
until  after  the  election,  I  would  be  likely  to  put  the 
despatch  in  the  waste  basket,  and  deny  that  I  had 
ever  received  it.  To  which  Scott  answered  that  he 
could  obviate  that  difficulty  by  sending  the  despatch 
to  R.  D.  Barclay,  his  secretary,  with  instructions  to 
deliver  it  to  me  in  person  and  get  the  answer.  The 
following  morning  Mr.  Barclay  came  into  my  office, 
trying  to  exhibit  the  indifference  that  would  become  a 
man  entirely  innocent  of  what  he  was  doing,  and  said 
that  he  had  a  despatch  from  Colonel  Scott,  with  in- 
structions to  deliver  it  to  me  in  person  and  get  the 
answer.  After  reading  the  despatch  I  instructed 
Barclay  to  answer  Colonel  Scott  that  I  was  publicly 
committed  to  the  contest  and  could  not  retire  without 
dishonor. 

A  series  of  public  meetings  were  at  once  announced 
by  an  improvised  campaign  committee  covering  every 
section  of  the  district,  and  requiring  me  to  speak  from 
two  to  three  times  every  night.    The  Democrats  had 


298 


Old  Time  Notes 


in  the  meantime  endorsed  my  nomination,  as  did  the 
reform  organization  of  the  city,  and  I  doubt  whether 
ever  a  campaign  of  ten  days  aroused  such  intense 
interest  among  the  people  of  the  district.  Meetings 
were  overcrowded  on  both  sides,  and  the  Machine 
organization  was  strained  to  the  uttermost  to  arrest 
the  overwhelming  revolutionary  tide  that  confronted 
it.  Among  other  places  meetings  were  called  in  the 
Nineteenth  ward,  then  the  center  of  repeating  and  other 
pollution  of  the  ballot  in  the  uptown  districts,  and  the 
Machine  thugs  in  that  region  openly  declared  that  I 
should  not  be  permitted  to  speak  in  the  ward.  It  will 
grate  very  harshly  on  the  ears  of  all  fair-minded  citizens 
when  I  state  that  District  Attorney  Mann  and  Sheriff 
Leeds  called  at  my  office  and  notified  me  that  I  could 
not  speak  in  the  Nineteenth  ward  because  they  would 
be  unable  to  preserve  the  peace,  and  could  not  be 
held  responsible  for  the  result.  Mann  was  personally 
friendly,  but  owed  everything  to  the  organization,  and 
had  to  go  with  it.  Leeds  was  part  of  the  organization 
and  believed  in  all  its  measures  even  to  the  most  des- 
perate of  them.  I  reminded  them  that  they  should  not 
call  upon  me,  but  as  the  highest  officers  charged  with 
the  protection  of  the  peace  and  the  maintenance  of 
law  and  order  they  should  go  to  the  lawless  people  of 
the  Nineteenth  ward  and  notify  them  that  freedom 
of  speech  was  a  right  that  belonged  to  all,  and  that 
any  interference  on  their  part  would  be  promptly  and 
severely  punished.  Leeds  informed  me  that  he  could 
not  maintain  the  peace,  and  the  mayor  was  powerless, 
as  the  people  there  were  in  a  riotous  condition.  I 
ended  the  conversation  by  notifying  them  that  I 
would  go  there  to  speak  at  the  time  appointed,  and  that 
it  was  up  to  them  to  decide  whether  there  should  be 
riot  or  peace.  After  further  conference  with  the  mayor 
they  decided  that  they  must  maintain  the  peace,  and 


of  Pennsylvania 


hundreds  of  policemen  were  ordered  to  be  on  duty 
at  the  time. 

Another  question  that  was  soberly  considered  in  the 
office  of  the  mayor  of  the  city,  in  the  presence  of  the 
district  attorney,  sheriff  and  Mr.  McCullough,  the 
secretary  of  the  mayor,  was  whether  the  repeaters 
usually  employed  by  the  party  could  venture  out  to 
vote  against  me  in  the  face  of  the  general  uprising  of 
the  people.  Mann  earnestly  protested  against  the 
use  of  any  unfair  means  to  defeat  me,  and  Robert  S. 
Tittermary,  who  Vv^as  present,  and  who  was  closely 
related  to  the  repeating  system  of  the  city,  strongly 
advised  against  it  on  the  ground  that  the  revolutionary 
spirit  was  too  strong  to  attempt  any  violent  measures. 
After  considerable  discussion  it  was  decided  that 
repeaters  should  not  be  called  out,  and  Colonel  Mann 
came  to  my  office  and  congratulated  me  on  my  assured 
election,  as  it  had  been  decided  at  the  mayor's  office  that 
the  election  should  be  fairly  and  honestly  conducted. 

On  the  evening  that  I  was  to  speak  in  the  Nineteenth 
ward  I  applied  to  a  friend  in  the  city  who  understood 
just  the  kind  of  men  I  wanted  and  asked  for  a  personal 
guard  of  twelve  men,  who  were  to  be  well  armed  and 
who  knew  how  to  fight  in  a  battle  with  thugs.  The 
men  were  not  hard  to  obtain,  and  twelve  men  were 
brought  together  who  had  very  positive  instructions 
not  to  exhibit  themselves  in  any  ostentatious  manner, 
that  they  should  drop  into  the  car  along  the  route  to 
the  meeting,  and  when  I  got  out  of  the  car  to  be  close 
around  me  without  exhibiting  any  sign  of  their  pur- 
pose. When  the  car  stopped  in  front  of  the  hall  the 
streets  were  filled  with  a  boisterous  crowd  and  hundreds 
of  policemen  were  there  on  duty.  Policemen  had  been 
placed  in  every  saloon  near  the  hall,  and  instructions 
given  that  under  no  circumstances  was  I  to  be  dis- 
turbed or  interrupted.    When  I  landed  there  the 


300 


Old  Time  Notes 


sergeant  of  police  met  me  and  said  he  was  instructed 
to  escort  me  into  the  hall,  to  which  I  answered  that  I 
needed  no  escort  and  walked  forward  to  enter  the  hall 
myself,  along  with  the  crowd,  but  around  me  were  the 
men  who  were  there  for  my  protection. 

The  room  was  crowded  to  suffocation  and  a  large 
majority  of  the  men  V\^ere  evidently  in  a  very  bad  humor 
and  chafing  under  the  restraint  the  police  had  put  upon 
them.  I  never  faced  quite  so  uninviting  an  audience, 
but  there  was  only  one  thing  to  do,  and  that  was  to 
either  become  master  of  the  situation  at  once,  or  have 
the  thugs  become  masters.  I  commenced  by  stating 
that  election  frauds  were  more  flagrant  in  that  ward 
than  in  any  other  in  the  city;  that  at  the  last  election 
the  return  was  grossly  fraudulent  and  false,  and  that  it 
was  made  with  the  approval  of  the  political  leaders. 
Someone  in  the  rear  of  the  audience  yelled  out :  "  That's 
a  lie,"  but  he  was  knocked  down  almost  before  the 
sentence  was  finished,  and  when  someone  attempted 
to  come  to  his  aid  he  was  knocked  down  as  quickly. 
For  the  first  time  the  political  thugs  discovered  that 
they  were  not  entirely  on  safe  ground,  and  the  behavior 
of  the  audience  thereafter  was  excellent.  I  walked 
out  of  the  hall  and  down  to  the  car  apparently  alone, 
but  close  by  were  the  twelve  faithful  men,  who  were 
then  quite  out  of  humor  themselves  because  they  had  not 
succeeded  in  getting  a  row  worthy  of  the  occasion.  The 
experience  of  that  evening  ended  all  disturbance  at  my 
meetings  and  the  battle  was  fought  out  to  a  finish  with- 
out violence.  On  Monday  night,  the  evening  before  the 
election,  the  Hartranft  ball  was  held  in  the  Academy  of 
Music,  and  someone  who  had  managed  to  get  hold  of  one 
of  my  tickets  brought  it  to  the  leaders  at  the  Hartranft 
ball  and  insisted  that  now,  as  they  could  duplicate  my 
ticket,  the  repeaters  should  be  turned  out  the  next 
day  as  the  only  hope  of  defeating  me.    There  was 


Of  Pennsylvania 


301 


only  a  single  name  on  the  ticket,  and  I  had  a  large 
ticket  printed  some  three  inches  in  length  and  one 
and  a  half  inches  in  width.  Nearly  all  of  the  leaders 
were  present  at  the  Hartranft  ball,  and  some  protested 
earnestly,  including  Mr.  Tittermary,  who  was  expected 
to  take  an  active  part,  but  they  were  overwhelmed  and 
orders  were  issued  that  repeaters  should  resume  their 
vocation  the  next  morning  and  exhaust  their  power  to 
increase  the  vote  against  me.  Tittermiary  was  in 
with  the  repeaters  who  operated  that  day  and  played 
his  own  part  in  the  work.  He  was  dependent  upon 
the  party  and  had  to  obey  orders,  but  when  midnight 
of  election  day  came,  after  the  returns  had  all  been 
received,  a  friend  asked  me  to  go  to  a  particular  room 
in  a  hotel  down  Chestnut  Street.  I  did  so,  and  there 
found  Robert  S.  Tittermxary,  who  gave  me  the  entire 
programme  of  the  fraud,  planned  and  executed  to  defeat 
me,  with  the  names  of  the  actors  and  every  place  where 
fraud  had  been  perpetrated  and  how  it  had  been  done. 
The  result  was  that  when  I  commenced  a  contest  I 
did  not  have  to  grope  in  the  dark,  but  knew  exactly 
where  to  strike  and  whom  to  summon.  A  card  published 
the  next  morning  stated  my  purpose  to  contest  the 
election,  and  the  first  man  at  my  office  soon  after 
breakfast  was  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster,  to  offer  his 
services  as  counsel  in  the  case,  expressly  providing 
that  no  fee  should  be  paid.  Henry  S.  Hagert,  Lewis 
C.  Cassidy  and  David  W.  Sellers  also  volunteered  and 
rendered  important  service.  It  was  not  difficult  to  state 
the  facts  on  which  the  contest  was  made  in  the  petition 
to  go  to  the  senate,  as  I  was  minutely  informed  by  Tit- 
termary and  later  by  others  of  all  the  plans  adopted 
and  carried  into  effect  to  defeat  my  election.  Mr.  Gray 
was  returned  as  elected  by  891  majority,  and  how  that 
majority  was  falsely  fashioned,  and  how  it  was  cor- 
rected, will  be  an  interesting  story  for  another  chapter. 


3°  2 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXIX. 

THE  CONTESTED  SENATORIAL  ELEC- 
TION OF  1872. 

The  Author  Returned  as  Defeated  by  891  Majority — Protracted  Struggle 
to  Get  a  Petition  for  Contest  before  the  Senate — Interesting  Incidents 
of  the  Struggle — A  Special  Law  Enacted  to  Try  the  Case — Plan  of 
Leaders  to  Draw  a  Set-up  Committee — Clerk  Hammersley  Refuses 
to  Do  It,  and  Informs  the  Author — A  Democratic  Committee  Ob- 
tained— Appalling  Fraud  Developed  in  the  Trial  of  the  Contest — 
Jail  Birds  Hired  to  Swear  Falsely  That  They  Had  Repeated  for 
McClure — Colonel  Gray  Acquits  Himself  of  the  Frauds. 

THE  morning  after  the  special  election  held  on 
the  30th  of  Januaiy,  1872,  when  Henry  W. 
Gray  was  returned  as  elected  senator  over 
me,  by  891  majority,  I  proceeded  at  once  to  prepare  a 
petition  setting  forth  the  numerous  frauds  which  had 
been  practised  by  which  a  majority  of  over  2,000  had 
been  transposed  to  nearly  900  majority  against  me. 
It  was  not  difficult  to  prepare  the  petition,  as  the  facts 
were  all  in  my  possession.  It  was  not  really  necessary 
to  present  all  the  varied  phases  of  fraud  which  had  been 
perpetrated  in  the  contest,  but  as  the  complete  details 
of  the  pollution  of  the  ballot  box  were  known  to  me.  I 
presented  in  the  petition  every  feature  of  fraud  that 
had  been  instituted,  and  gave  all  the  details  of  its 
execution,  making  the  petition  a  printed  volume  of 
nearly  300  pages. 

On  the  8th  of  February  the  petition  was  presented  to 
the  senate,  and  Amos  Briggs,  as  attorney  for  Mr.  Gray, 
then  holding  the  seat,  appeared  before  the  body  and 
filed  a  plea  denying  the  jurisdiction  of  the  body  under 


Of  Pennsylvania  303 

the  law.  The  general  law  of  the  State  providing  for 
legislative  contests  declared  that  no  petition  contesting 
a  seat shall  be  acted  upon  by  the  Legislature  unless  the 
same  be  presented  within  ten  days  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Legislature  next  succeeding  the  election." 
As  the  special  election  was  not  held  until  nearly  thirty 
days  after  the  Legislature  met,  a  strict  construction 
of  the  act  of  1839  precluded  the  admission  of  the 
petition;  but  the  question  had  arisen  in  several  cases, 
and  in  every  instance  it  was  accepted  that  when  a 
special  election  was  held  during  the  meeting  of  the 
Legislature,  the  contestant  was  required  to  file  his 
petition  within  ten  days  after  the  certificate  of  election 
was  issued.  The  question  was  referred  to  the  judiciary 
committee  of  the  body,  consisting  of  Messrs.  White, 
Fitch  and  Mumma,  Republicans,  and  Messrs.  Wallace 
and  Davis,  Democrats.  By  a  resolution  of  the  senate, 
Messrs.  Strang  and  Warfel,  Republicans,  and  Purman 
and  Buckalew,  Democrats,  were  added  to  the  committee 
for  the  consideration  of  the  special  case,  and  the  major- 
ity of  the  committee,  on  strict  party  vote,  reported  to 
the  senate  that  the  petition  could  not  be  received  under 
any  existing  laws. 

Senator  White,  of  Indiana,  who  had  long  been  promi- 
nent in  the  Republican  leadership  of  the  State,  took 
the  laboring  oar  to  enforce  the  policy  of  denying  me 
the  right  to  contest  the  seat  of  Gray  before  the  senate, 
and  when  the  Republican  majority  of  the  judiciary 
committee  united  in  the  report  against  the  reception 
of  my  petition,  it  was  naturally  assumed  by  White  and 
his  friends  that  I  would  be  denied  a  hearing,  and,  of 
course,  could  not  obtain  the  seat. 

Partisan  feeling  was  much  embittered  and  White 
had  every  reason  to  believe  that,  with  a  Republican 
majority  of  one  in  the  senate,  as  long  as  Gray  held  the 
seat  he  could  indefinitely  hinder  the  hearing  of  the 


304 


Old  Time  Notes 


case,  but  he  was  not  correctly  advised  as  to  the  true 
conditions  which  existed  in  the  senate.  There  were 
three  RepubHcan  senators  who  were  entirely  satisfied 
that  I  had  been  elected,  and  who  had  decided  that,  at 
the  proper  time,  they  would  assert  themselves  and 
assure  a  hearing  of  the  case  and  my  admission  to  the 
senate.  These  three  Republican  senators  were  Billing- 
felt,  of  Lancaster;  Strang,  of  Tioga,  and  Davis,  of 
Philadelphia.  Before  the  judiciary  committee  re- 
ported against  receiving  the  petition,  Strang,  who  was 
one  of  the  additional  members  added  to  the  committee, 
conferred  with  me  on  the  subject,  and  I  concurred  in 
his  views  that  he  should  agree  with  the  majority,  and 
not  show  his  hand  at  that  stage  of  the  proceeding,  as 
it  was  entirely  competent  for  the  senate,  whenever  it 
was  decided  that  the  act  of  1839  did  not  cover  the  case, 
to  decide  in  its  own  way  how  the  case  should  be  heard 
and  determined,  as  the  senate  was  the  sole  judge  of  the 
election  and  qualification  of  its  members. 

By  agreement,  Billingfelt,  a  ruggedly  honest  German 
from  Lancaster,  and  Strang,  certainly  then  the  ablest 
of  the  Republican  leaders  in  the  body,  and  Davis,  who 
had  been  twice  speaker  of  the  house,  decided  that  they 
would  allow  White's  policy  to  prevail  until  he  had  set- 
tled the  question  that  the  act  of  1839  did  not  apply, 
and  then  they  would  demand  a  hearing  of  the  case 
under  a  much  fairer  law.  Under  the  act  of  1839  the 
drawing  of  the  committee  V\^ould  have  been  a  mere 
lottery,  and  they  were  more  than  willing  to  let  White 
have  his  own  way  in  rejecting  that  act,  as  it  would  be 
certain  to  result  in  a  much  fairer  special  provision, 
either  by  statute  of  both  houses  or  by  special  order  of 
the  senate,  to  form  a  tribunal  for  the  trial  of  the  case. 
As  soon  as  it  was  decided  by  the  senate  that  under  the 
act  of  1839  the  petition  could  not  be  received  Senator 
Davis  took  the  lead,  and  declared  that  it  w^as  the  duty 


Of  Pennsylvania 


305 


of  the  senate  to  receive  the  petition  under  a  law  of  its 
own  creation,  and  determine  it  as  a  matter  of  justice  to 
the  people  of  the  district,  as  well  as  to  the  senate,  and 
Strang  and  Billingfelt  both  joined  in  the  demand  that 
the  case  must  be  heard.  A  special  law  was  framed  and 
as  a  matter  of  courtesy  it  was  sent  to  the  house  for 
concurrence.  A  caucus  was  immediately  called  by 
the  Republican  leaders  under  Speaker  Elliott,  to  decide 
against  passing  any  law  on  the  subject,  believing  that 
the  senate  would  not  attempt  to  treat  the  case  without 
a  statute  passed  by  both  branches.  Thomas  V.  Cooper 
was  then  a  member  of  the  house  and  knew  the  situation 
thoroughly.  He  got  together  some  twenty  or  thirty 
members,  and  gave  notice  that  they  would  not  obey 
the  caucus  decree  to  deny  a  hearing  of  my  petition, 
and  it  had  to  be  abandoned.  The  house,  finding  that 
the  senate  would  act  independently  of  it,  finally  agreed 
to  accept  the  act  prepared  by  Senator  Billingfelt,  which 
provided  that  the  senate  should  select  six  of  the  seven 
members  of  the  committee  to  try  the  case,  each  senator 
voting  for  but  three,  and  that  the  remaining  senators, 
excepting  the  speaker  and  the  senator  whose  seat  was 
contested,  should  have  their  names  put  in  a  box,  and 
thirteen  names  drav/n  therefrom  by  the  clerk,  after 
which  each  side  should  alternately  strike  names  from 
the  list  until  one  remained,  the  remaining  name  to  con- 
stitute the  seventh  member  of  the  committee. 

Under  this  law  the  Democrats  selected  Buckalew,  of 
Columbia;  J.  Depuy  Davis,  of  Berks,  and  Dill,  of 
Union,  and  the  Republicans  elected  White,  of  Indiana ; 
Fitch,  of  Susquehanna,  and  Mumma,  of  Dauphin.  The 
election  of  these  members  of  the  committee  left  in  the 
senate  fourteen  Republicans,  including  the  speaker  and 
Senator  Gray,  whose  seat  was  contested,  and  thirteen 
Democrats,  but  of  the  fourteen  Republicans  remaining 
the  speaker's  name  and  that  of  Senator  Gray  could  not 

a — 20 


3o6 


Old  Time  Notes 


go  into  the  box,  thus  reducing  the  Republican  force  from 
which  the  additional  member  might  be  drawn  to  twelve, 
and  with  the  names  of  Billingf  elt,  Strang  and  Davis,  who, 
without  having  made  any  public  avowal  of  the  subject, 
were  positively  and  earnestly  desirous  to  aid  in  giving  me 
the  seat  because  they  were  entirely  convinced  of  my  elec- 
tion, withdrawn  from  the  Republican  partisan  column, 
left  the  opposition  but  nine  senators  while  the  thirteen 
Democrats,  with  Billingfelt,  Strang  and  Davis  added, 
made  seventeen  who  meant  to  have  a  thorough  investi- 
gation, fully  satisfied  that  it  would  give  me  the  seat. 

Of  course  the  attitude  of  Billingfelt,  Strang  and 
Davis  was  not  known  to  White  and  his  followers,  and 
they  were  quite  hopeful  that  they  might  obtain  a  com- 
mittee that  would  be  subject  to  partisan  commands. 
So  embittered  had  the  struggle  become  that  positive 
orders  were  given  to  George  W.  Hammersley,  then 
chief  clerk  of  the  senate,  to  draw  a  majority  of  Repub- 
licans among  the  thirteen  names  to  be  taken  from  the 
box.  Hammersley  was  a  strong  partisan,  but  an  old 
and  sincere  friend  of  mine,  and  when  he  received  the 
orders  he  immediately  reported  to  me,  and  informed 
me  that  he  would  not  under  any  circumstances  per- 
petrate the  fraud.  There  were  two  assistant  clerks, 
the  senior  of  whom  was  Thomas  B.  Cochran,  of  Lan- 
caster, a  resolutely  honest  official,  and  the  other  was 
McKee,  of  Westmoreland,  who  was  presumed  to  be 
entirely  obedient  to  orders.  Hammersley  advised  me 
that  he  would  simply  notify  the  masters  that  he  would 
not  serve  in  drawing  the  committee,  and  he  knew  that 
they  would  attempt  to  have  McKee  take  his  place,  but 
Billingfelt  was  at  once  advised  of  it,  and  as  Cochran 
was  his  own  immediate  constituent,  he  solved  the 
problem  very  quickly  by  moving  that  Assistant  Clerk 
Cochran  take  the  place  of  the  chief  clerk  in  drawing 
the  committee.    With  him  against  them,  the  Repub- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


licans  were  in  the  minority,  and  they  were  compelled 
to  assent  to  Cochran  serving. 

I  was  amazed  to  learn  from  Hammersley  that  it  was 
a  very  easy  proceeding  for  the  clerk  to  bring  out 
names  entirely  according  to  his  own  wishes,  by  simply 
rolling  tightly  the  tickets  containing  the  members  not 
wanted,  and  rolling  more  loosely  the  tickets  contain- 
ing the  names  of  members  whose  selection  was  desired. 
As  the  box  is  shaken  in  public  view  of  the  senate  after 
the  tickets  are  placed  in  it,  the  closely  rolled  tickets 
would  settle  to  the  bottom,  and  the  looser  ones  remain 
on  top,  but  Cochran  folded  his  tickets  all  alike,  and  the 
drawing  was  watched  with  breathless  interest.  The 
senate  was  crowded  to  the  uttermost  and  two  Republi- 
can members  who  were  paired  with  absent  Democrats 
were  forced  to  violate  their  pairs  and  permit  their  names 
to  go  into  the  box.  They  were  Mr.  Delamater,*  of 
Crawford,  father  of  the  later  senator  who  was  candidate 
for  Governor  in  1890,  who  was  paired  with  Senator 
Knight,  of  Bucks,  and  H.  Jones  Brooke,  of  Delaware, 
who  was  paired  with  Senator  Finley,  of  Somerset.  All 
that  was  necessary  for  these  paired  senators  to  fulfill 
their  solemn  compact  was  to  refuse  to  answer  when 
called  to  have  their  names  placed  in  the  box.  It  was 
well  known  to  all  the  members  of  the  body  that  both 
Delamater  and  Brooke  had  paired  with  Democrats 
who  were  then  absent,  but  both  responded  to  their 
names,  and  although  challenged  by  my  counsel,  they 
both  denied  the  obligation  of  the  pair  and  that  was 
conclusive.  Senator  Finley  had  been  suddenly  called 
to  Philadelphia  the  day  before,  and  after  arranging  the 

*  Senator  Delamater,  after  noticing  this  statement  in  the  public  press, 
recently  v/rote  the  author  that  injustice  was  done  him  in  stating  that  he 
had  violated  his  pledge,  as  he  had  notified  Senator  Knight  before  the  case 
came  before  the  senate  that  he  would  withdraw  his  pair  because  of  the 
protracted  illness  of  Senator  Knight. 


5o8 


Old  Time  Notes 


pair  with  Brooke,  submitted  it  to  me  for  approval.  I 
at  once  assented  to  it,  as  I  did  not  doubt  that  Mr. 
Brooke  would  faithfully  fulfill  his  obligation,  but  when 
challenged  he  arose  in  his  place  and  denied  that  he 
was  paired  with  Senator  Finley.  Finley  was  tele- 
graphed at  once  the  situation,  and  he  returned  the 
same  evening.  On  the  following  morning  he  went 
into  the  senate  before  it  had  been  called  to  order,  found 
Brooke  in  his  seat,  and  informed  him  that  he  had 
violated  his  solemn  faith,  and  that  if  he  did  not  rise  in 
the  senate  and  confess  that  he  had  violated  his  pledge, 
Finley  declared  that  he  would  horsewhip  him  before 
he  left  the  Capitol,  and  the  rugged  senator  from  the 
glades  of  the  Alleghenies  meant  just  what  he  said. 
Brooke  at  once  admitted  to  Finley  that  he  had  paired 
and  that  he  would  make  a  declaration  to  the  senate, 
and  when  the  body  was  called  to  order  he  arose  in  his 
place  and  said  that  he  had  unintentionally  violated  his 
solemnly  plighted  faith  to  the  senator  from  Somerset, 
but  that  he  did  it  when  under  the  influence  of  opiates, 
having  been  ill  for  some  time,  and  that  all  memory  of 
his  pair  had  faded  away.  Brooke  had  long  been  in 
public  life,  was  quite  sensitive  as  to  his  reputation  for 
integrity,  and  with  tears  scalding  his  cheeks  he  begged 
of  the  senate  to  forgive  the  wrong  he  had  unconsciously 
committed,  and  accept  his  assurance  that  only  severe 
mental  and  physical  disturbance  had  made  it  possible. 

Fortunately  the  violated  pairs  did  not  affect  the 
result.  The  names  drawn  from  the  box  ran  very  nearly 
even  in  both  parties,  and  when  the  twelfth  was  called 
six  Democrats  and  six  Republicans  were  on  the  list. 
Nearly  all  of  those  present  in  the  body  naturally  as- 
sumed that  the  next  name  called  would  be  conclusive 
as  to  the  final  judgment  of  the  case,  and  the  painful 
silence  was  broken  when  Clerk  Cochran  announced  the 
name  of  William  M.  Randall,  Democrat,  of  Schuylkill, 


Of  Pennsyivania 


309 


making  seven  Democrats  and  six  Republicans  in  the 
list  drawn  from  the  box,  but  of  the  six  Republicans  one 
did  not  doubt  my  election,  and  would  doubtless  have 
so  decided  had  he  been  called  to  serve  on  the  commit- 
tee. Billingfelt,  Strang  and  Davis  united  in  the  re- 
quest that  I  should  not  compel  them  to  serve  on  the 
committee  if  I  could  avoid  it,  but  that  if  necessary  any 
of  them  would  accept  the  responsibility,  but  with 
seven  Democrats  of  the  thirteen  drawn  I  could  safely 
strike  all  the  Republicans,  while  Gray  could  only  strike 
six  of  the  seven  Democrats  named,  and  he  left  the 
name  of  Judge  Broadhead,  Democratic  senator  from 
Carbon,  who  composed  the  seventh  member  of  the 
committee. 

With  a  committee  drawn  that  was  assumed  on  all 
sides  as  willing  to  do  full  justice  to  my  claim  for  the 
seat,  the  desperate  Republican  leaders  decided  that 
they  would  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  finish  the  con- 
test before  the  close  of  the  session.  The  committee 
was  finally  secured  on  the  21st  of  February,  and  at 
once  organized  with  Buckalew  as  chairman  and  com- 
menced its  sessions  in  Philadelphia  at  the  Washington 
House.  The  committee  sat  patiently  day  and  night, 
and  as  we  were  fully  prepared  for  the  exposure  of  the 
frauds  the  evidence  was  appalling  to  the  leaders  of  the 
city.  In  order  to  show  the  methods  of  the  leaders 
distinctly  at  the  outset,  I  selected  the  Twentieth 
division  of  the  Nineteenth  ward,  v/here  they  had  re- 
turned thirty-five  votes  for  me  and  191  against  me.  I 
placed  copies  of  the  poll  list  in  the  hands  of  several 
thoroughly  intelligent  and  energetic  business  m.en,  and 
had  them  subpoena  every  man  whose  name  was  on 
the  poll  list  to  testify  before  the  committee.  The 
result  was  that  a  thorough  canvass  of  the  precinct  was 
made,  and  103  testified  that  they  had  voted  for  me, 
twenty-five  testified  that  they  had  not  voted  at  all, 


Old  Time  Notes 


their  names  having  been  voted  on  by  repeaters,  and 
the  men  who  made  the  canvass  found  that  forty-four 
of  the  names  on  the  poll  list  were  entirely  fictitious,  and 
that  no  such  persons  lived  in  the  division.  This  devel- 
opment appalled  the  leaders  and  the  next  week  we  were 
dumfounded  by  the  Legislature  passing  through  both 
branches  a  resolution  fixing  the  24th  of  March  for  final 
adjournment,  which  was  done  solely  to  make  it  impos- 
sible, as  they  believed,  for  me  to  expose  sufiicient 
frauds  to  overcome  the  majority  returned  against  me, 
as  it  left  us  but  little  more  than  three  weeks  which  had 
to  be  divided  with  the  other  side. 

A  conference  was  held  that  night  with  Brewster, 
Cassidy,  Hagert  and  Sellers,  who  were  acting  as  my 
counsel,  and  the  first  impression  of  all  was  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  finish  the  case  in  time  for  a  report  that 
session,  and  the  committee  would  naturally  die  with 
the  Legislature.  Cassidy  was  at  times  of  most  heroic 
mold,  and  he  proposed  that  we  should  go  before  the 
committee  the  following  morning,  propose  to  close  our 
case  in  eight  days,  giving  the  other  side  eight  days  to 
follow,  and  we  to  have  two  days  in  rebuttal,  when  the 
case  must  close.  The  natural  inquiry  of  the  other 
counsel  was  how  the  case  could  possibly  be  tried  in  so 
short  a  time,  to  which  Cassidy  answered:  "That's  our 
business  to  find  out;  this  is  our  only  chance."  He 
added  that  we  had  a  friendly  court,  and  that  it  was  for 
the  counsel  to  determine  how  the  case  should  be  pre- 
sented to  justify  the  committee  in  reaching  a  just  judg- 
ment. It  was  known  that  Buckalew  would  not  reject 
the  entire  poll  of  a  precinct,  but  Cassidy  suggested  that 
if  the  return  was  clearly  tainted  Buckalew  would  reject 
the  return,  and  count  only  such  votes  as  would  be 
proven  before  the  committee.  That  policy  was  adopt- 
ed, although  kept  sacredly  secret  in  our  own  counsels. 
Some  ten  or  twelve  of  the  worst  precincts  were  selected 


Of  Pennsylvania 


in  which  to  prove  that  the  return  was  false  and  fraud- 
ulent and  could  not  be  accepted. 

It  required  but  few  witnesses  to  establish  that  fact, 
but  had  the  policy  been  understood  by  the  other  side 
they  could  have  met  us  by  calling  individual  votes  in 
those  precincts.  Instead  of  confining  our  witnesses  to 
ten  or  a  dozen  precincts  whose  returns  were  absolutely 
false,  we  would  examine  perhaps  200  or  300  witnesses 
a  day  at  the  several  sessions,  and  not  over  twenty-five 
of  the  whole  number  would  apply  to  the  precincts  really 
assailed.  We  proved  frauds  of  the  most  flagrant  char- 
acter, but  they  really  counted  nothing  in  making  up 
the  case  as  it  had  been  decided  to  present  it,  and  the 
opposition  was  entirely  deceived  as  to  our  purpose. 
When  we  closed  after  eight  days  in  the  presentation  of 
many  hundreds  of  witnesses,  not  more  than  200  of  the  wit- 
nesses called  were  really  vital,  but  they  misled  the  other 
side  and  they  never  attempted  to  prove  their  vote  in 
the  precinct  where  we  had  the  return  absolutely  tainted. 

The  vote  was  then  counted  and  announced  every 
hour,  and  the  list  of  voters  on  the  poll  list  was  classified 
by  hours.  When  our  testimony  was  boiled  down  to 
the  vital  point  we  had  proved  in  each  of  the  assailed 
precincts  that  the  return  announced  in  each  of  them  was 
false  by  several  votes  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at 
one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening— in  each  case  having  proved  more  votes  for  me 
than  had  been  returned;  and  while  we  had  specially 
assailed  ten  or  a  dozen  precincts  we  had  generalty 
assailed  fully  a  hundred  precincts,  all  of  which  were 
more  or  less  rotten.  The  result  was  that  v/hen  the 
testimony  closed  we  showed  that  there  were  no  lawful 
returns  from  these  precincts,  that  they  were  proven  to 
be  false  and  fraudulent  at  three  different  hours  of  the 
day,  and  the  committee  very  properly  accepted  the 
view  and  counted  only  such  votes  as  had  been  proved 


312 


Old  Time  Notes 


before  the  committee,  resulting  in  my  declared  elec- 
tion by  2IO  majority. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  there  was  not  an  allegation 
of  fraud  presented  to  the  committee  in  a  single  precinct 
of  the  district  that  had  returned  me  a  majority,  nor 
was  one  fraudulent  vote  proved  as  having  been  cast  for 
me.  An  attempt  was  made  to  halt  the  terrible  current 
of  political  frauds  developed  by  the  testimony,  but  it 
resulted  only  in  making  the  fraudulent  leaders  openly 
disgrace  themselves.  They  became  impatient  under 
the  daily  development  of  fraud  that  was  made  before 
the  committee,  while  not  a  single  allegation  had  been 
made  of  fraudulent  effort  on  my  side.  Some  of  the 
m.ore  desperate  leaders  of  the  city  decided  that  they 
would  do  something  toward  balancing  the  account  of 
fraud  and  force  the  stain  of  corruption  upon  my  side. 
They  gathered  up  five  of  the  lowest  vagrants  of  the 
city,  all  of  them  jail  birds,  one  known  as  the  Educated 
Hog,"  another  as  ''Stuttering  Jimmy,"  another  as 
"  Flying  Dutchman"  and  all  bore  like  distinctive  names. 
They  were  gathered  at  the  Little  Brown  Jug,  a  back 
saloon  near  Walnut  and  Sixth  Streets,  and  after  in- 
spiring them  by  a  liberal  use  of  bad  whisky  it  was 
arranged  with  them  to  attend  the  hearing  that  day  and 
each  swear  that  they  had  acted  as  a  band  of  repeaters 
on  election  day,  had  voted  for  me  twenty  or  thirty 
times,  and  v/ere  paid  by  my  friends.  Among  those  who 
were  present  and  had  knowledge  of  this  movement  was 
Mr.  Tittermary,  who  had  given  me  the  information  in 
relation  to  the  frauds  perpetrated,  and  who  had  him- 
self led  repeaters.  He  knew  that  these  men  had  been 
paid  ten  dollars  a  piece,  and  would  be  paid  ten  dollars 
more  after  they  had  testified.  They  were  in  charge 
of  a  man  named  Douchman,  who  was  a  brother  of 
the  "Flying  Dutchman,"  but  not  entirely  of  like  vag- 
rant qtialities. 


of  Pennsylvania 


313 


Douchman  was  paid  $200  for  handling  these  men 
and  he  was  instructed  by  Tittermary  to  go  with  a  friend 
whom  he  had  chosen  to  a  private  room  in  the  Washing- 
ton House,  where  the  meeting  was  held,  and  to  send 
for  me  and  tell  me  exactly  what  had  been  done.  I  was 
sent  for  to  go  to  the  room,  and  there  found  Douchman 
and  the  friend  who  had  brought  him.  Douchm.an 
stated  frankly  that  he  was  in  for  all  he  could  m.ake  and 
that  he  had  $200  from  the  other  side,  but  if  it  paid 
quite  as  well  he  would  rather  turn  the  thing  to  an  honest 
account.  I  asked  him  what  he  would  require  to  have 
three  of  his  five  witnesses  tell  the  truth.  He  promptly 
informed  me  that  he  would  have  it  done  any  way  I 
desired  for  $200.  I  said  to  him  that  if  he  did  as  I 
directed  he  would  be  paid  the  money,  and  the  friend 
present  assured  him  that  he  could  accept  my  word.  I 
directed  him  to  pick  out  three  of  the  men  who  would 
tell  the  truth  and  allow  the  other  two  to  have  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  transaction,  but  they  were  to  be  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  five  and  be  called  out  first.  The  result 
w^as  that  within  half  an  hour  the  five  witnesses  appeared 
and  the  ''Educated  Hog"  and  "Stuttering  Jimmy" 
were  first  called,  and  both  testified  that  they  did  not 
live  in  the  district,  but  that  five  of  them  had  been  em- 
ployed— naming  all  of  them — to  repeat  for  me,  and 
that  they  had  voted  from  twenty  to  thirty  times  and 
were  liberally  paid  by  some  person,  they  did  not  know 
whom,  but  it  was  not  myself.  I  had  much  difficulty  in 
getting  Mr.  Hagert,  who  had  charge  of  the  case  that 
day,  to  let  the  witnesses  go,  as  the  situation  could  not 
be  explained  at  the  table.  He  had  sent  both  cf 
them  to  prison  and  felt  like  destroying  their  reputa- 
tion as  witnesses,  but  I  finally,  in  a  quiet  way,  got  him 
to  understand  that  he  must  simply  let  them  go  and  he 
reluctantly  asGcn  L  ed.  The  third  witness  called  was  the 
"Flying  Dutchman,"  and  w^hen  asked  whether  he  had 


314 


Old  Time  Notes 


voted  at  the  election,  he  said  no;  that  he  didn't  live 
in  the  district;  that  he  hadn't  voted  on  that  day  at  all; 
that  he  and  four  others  had  that  morning  been  employed 
at  the  Little  Brown  Jug  and  been  paid  ten  dollars 
apiece  to  come  there  and  testify  that  they  had  repeated 
for  McClure,  but  that  it  was  entirely  false  and  he  wasn't 
going  to  perjure  himself.  Briggs  supposed  that  this 
was  an  individual  defection  and  made  the  mistake  of 
calling  another  witness.  He  answered  pecisely  as  did 
the  ''Flying  Dutchman,'*  and  then  the  whole  thing 
was  accepted  all  around  as  a  corrupt  set-up  to  sub- 
orn perjury,  to  fasten  the  semblance  of  fraud 
upon  my  claim.  I  promptly  paid  Mr.  Douchman  his 
$200  and  thought  he  had  v/ell  earned  the  money. 

The  case  was  practically  abandoned  by  the  opposi- 
tion after  the  exposure  of  the  Little  Brown  Jug  wit- 
nesses, and  soon  thereafter  Senator  Gray  gave  up  his 
seat  in  the  senate  and  did  not  return  to  it.  The  Legis- 
lature, learning  that  we  were  not  to  be  defeated  by 
final  adjournment  on  the  24th  of  March,  promptly 
rescinded  the  resolution  so  that  we  could  have  had 
increased  time,  but  we  did  not  need  it.  The  result  was 
that  on  the  27th  of  March  the  majority  of  the  committee 
reported  to  the  senate  that  the  return  of  Henry  W. 
Gray  was  false  and  fraudulent,  that  I  had  received  a 
majority  of  the  votes  cast  at  the  election,  and  I  was 
sworn  in  as  senator.  It  is  due  to  Mr.  Gray  to  state  that 
in  all  the  many  and  varied  frauds  proved  against  his 
cause  there  was  no  evidence  that  he  had  participated 
in  or  had  personal  knowledge  of  the  cormpt  methods 
adopted  to  effect  his  election,  and  he  volunteered  as  one 
of  the  last  witnesses  in  the  case  before  the  commit- 
tee to  testify  that  if  frauds  had  been  committed  to 
accomplish  his  return  as  senator  he  had  not  advised  or 
assented  to  any  other  than  lawful  methods  to  secure 
his  election. 


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315 


LXXX. 

GRAND  JURORS  PROTECT  BALLOT 
THIEVES. 

Interesting  Story  of  the  Failure  to  Bring  to  Trial  Parties  Guilty  of  Open 
and  Violent  Frauds — District  Attorney  Mann's  Honest  Effort  to 
Convict  Two  of  the  Guilty  Parties — Two  Grand  Juries  Set  Up  to 
Ignore  All  Bills — The  Prosecution  Delayed  for  One  Term  Hoping 
to  Get  a  Better  Jury — The  Next  Jury  Worse  Than  the  Last,  and  the 
Author  Forced  the  Prosecutions,  Knowing  That  the  Bills  Would  be 
Ignored — The  Testimony  Taken  before  the  Magistrate  That  Had 
Been  Given  to  the  Grand  Jury  Presented  to  the  Court — Court 
Remands  the  Bill  Back  to  the  Grand  Jury — The  Bills  Held  Until  the 
Last  Day  and  Then  Again  Ignored — Henry  C.  Lea  Renewed  the 
Prosecution,  and  the  Next  Grand  Jury  Ignored  the  Bill  and  Made 
Him  Pay  the  Cost — Struggle  in  the  Senate  for  a  Better  Election  Law 
— The  Party  Leaders  Decided  to  Have  No  Discussion  in  the  Senate, 
and  the  Author's  Bill  Passed  Unanimously — How  Senator  White  Was 
Brought  to  Renew  the  Battle,  and  How  the  New  Election  Law  Was 
Finally  Enacted. 

THE  special  senatorial  election  held  in  the  Fourth 
Philadelphia  district  on  the  30th  of  January, 
1872,  was  such  an  open  and  sweeping  carnival 
of  fraud,  portrayed  to  the  public  from  day  to  day  by 
the  leading  newspapers  of  the  city,  that  honest  public 
opinion  was  aroused  to  aggressive  action,  and  on  the 
day  after  the  election  the  Citizens'  Municipal  Reform 
Association  issued  a  call,  signed  by  R.  Rundle  Smith 
as  president,  and  Henry  C.  Lea  as  chairman  of  the 
executive  committee,  for  a  public  meeting  to  be  held 
on  the  evening  of  February  7  in  Horticultural  Hall, 
to  protest  against  the  growing  election  frauds  of  the 
city  and  take  m.easures  for  convicting  and  pimishing 
those  who  had  been  guilty  of  ballot  pollution  at  the 


3i6 


Old  Time  Notes 


special  election.  The  hall  wavS  crowded  to  sufiFocation, 
and  addresses  were  delivered  by  Benjamin  Harris 
Brewster,  E.  Joy  Morris,  Richard  Vaux,  John  Price 
Wetherill,  Dr.  William  Elder  and  myself.  I  stated  to 
the  meeting  that  the  evidence  was  entirely  ready  for 
prosecution  against  scores  of  individuals,  and  that  in 
each  case  it  was  overwhelming  and  unanswerable. 

I  had  on  repeated  occasions  given  notice  from  the 
platform  during  the  campaign  that  prosecutions  would 
certainly  follow  the  frauds  arranged  to  be  perpetrated 
at  the  election,  and  when  the  Municipal  Reform  Asso- 
ciation voluntarily  came  to  the  front  to  take  charge  of 
the  prosecutions  I  was  hopeful  that  something  might  be 
accomplished.  A  committee  of  the  Reform  Associa- 
tion advised  me  to  proceed  in  my  own  way,  and  they 
would  pay  all  the  necessary  expenses.  I  had  then  in 
my  possession  the  complete  and  detailed  information 
of  every  important  fraud  that  had  been  perpetrated 
at  the  special  election,  and  the  names  of  the  guilty 
parties,  with  all  the  facts  as  to  when,  where  and  how 
the  ballot  had  been  corrupted.  I  first  called  upon 
Colonel  Mann,  then  district  attorney,  who  was  my 
sincere  personal  friend,  but  who  could  not  show  his 
hand  in  any  vv^ay  in  support  of  my  aggressive  assaults 
upon  the  party  leaders  of  the  city,  of  whom  he  was  the 
chief.  The  prosecution  of  any  cases  would  be  in  his 
own  hands,  and  I  stated  that  I  had  called  to  have  a 
confidential  conference  with  him  on  the  subject,  in- 
forming him  that  I  did  not  expect  that  there  could  be 
successful  prosecutions  for  the  many  frauds  which  had 
been  perpetrated,  but  that  if  he  would  agree  to  prose- 
cute to  conviction  two  of  the  prominent  leaders  in  the 
frauds  I  would  be  content,  and  would  permit  him  to 
name  the  persons  to  be  prosecuted.  It  v/as  the  most  I 
could  hope  to  accomplish,  as  many  of  the  guilty  parties 
had  such  relations  with  the  district  attorney's  political 


Of  Pennsylvania 


leaders  that  he  could  not  prosecute  them  without  im- 
pairing his  own  political  organization.  He  agreed 
that  he  would  prosecute  to  conviction  tvv^o  men,  and 
asked  me  to  select  twelve  of  the  most  guilty  parties 
against  whom  the  evidence  was  absolutely  conclusive, 
and  he  would  select  from  the  twelve  two  men  whom 
he  would  have  indicted  and  convicted. 

I  presented  to  him  a  list  of  twelve  names,  leaving  cut 
a  number  of  equally  guilty  parties  who  I  knew  had 
very  close  relations  with  the  district  attorney,  but 
with  all  the  care  that  had  been  taken  to  relieve  him 
from  embarrassment,  he  found  it  exceedingly  difficult 
to  select  two  persons  v/hom  he  could  afford  to  prosecute. 
He  said  that  he  had  given  his  word  to  prosecute  and 
convict  the  persons  chosen  for  trial,  and  that  he  mieant 
to  act  with  entire  fidelity  to  me.  Our  personal  rela- 
tions were  such  that  I  knew  he  would  not  attempt  to 
deceive  me,  but  it  was  distressing  to  see  him  search 
through  the  dozen  names  to  find  two  that  he  could 
afford  to  place  in  the  dock  and  convict  for  carrying 
out  the  general  policy  of  the  party  that  was  governed 
by  himself.  Some  of  the  twelve  men  whose  names 
were  on  the  list  have  since  filled  important  city  and 
State  positions,  and  one  of  the  men  finally  chosen  for 
arrest  and  trial  held  an  important  municipal  office. 
Mann  went  over  the  list  time  and  again,  and  paused  at 
one  time  to  say  that  prosecuting  any  of  the  men  named 
was  "like  eating  my  own  children  without  salt."  He 
finally  selected  the  men  who  were  to  be  sacrificed  for 
the  wholesale  frauds  perpetrated  by  the  many  guilty 
parties,  and  I  proceeded  at  once  to  have  warrants 
issued  for  their  arrest. 

Special  care  was  taken  to  have  a  magistrate  issue  the 
warrants  who  could  not  be  manipulated  by  the  political 
leaders.  It  was  a  matter  of  vital  importance  to  get 
the  evidence  against  the  arrested  parties  before  the 


3i8  Old  Time  Notes 

public,  so  that  witnesses  would  be  reasonably  safe 
against  being  coerced  into  falsehood.  The  arrested 
parties  appeared  before  the  magistrate,  and  offered  to 
give  bail  for  appearance  at  court,  obviously  to  avoid 
the  evidence  against  them  getting  before  the  public, 
but  that  vv^as  resisted,  and  the  magistrate  decided  that 
the  case  should  be  heard.  The  witnesses  were  present, 
and  their  testimony  made  out  the  clearest  case  of  guilt 
against  both.  All  the  details  of  their  acts  in  perpetrating 
the  frauds  were  given,  and  the  testimony  was  reported  in 
full  and  published  in  the  leading  newspapers  of  the  cty. 

A  new  term  of  court  began  a  few  weeks  later,  and  on 
Saturday  before  the  beginning  of  the  new  term,  District 
Attorney  Mann  called  at  my  office  and  informed  me 
in  confidence  that  it  would  be  utterly  useless  for  him 
to  send  bills  of  indictment  to  the  grand  jury  at  the 
next  term,  as  it  was  set  up  and  would  ignore  every  bill 
charging  parties  with  election  offenses.  He  gave  me 
the  name  of  the  man  who  would  be  foreman  of  the 
grand  jury,  one  of  the  prominent  business  men  of  the 
city,  w^ho  assumed  that  Mann  was  desirous  of  having 
the  parties  acquitted,  and  informed  him  that  the  grand 
jury  was  absolutely  set  up  to  ignore  the  bills.  He 
advised  that  the  bills  be  withheld,  and  I  could  not  do 
less  than  assent  to  it. 

When  another  term  came  around  Mann  again 
informed  me  that  the  new  grand  jury  was  even  worse 
than  the  former  one,  and  that  it  would  be  utterl}^  hope- 
less to  obtain  a  true  bill  against  any  person  charged 
with  election  frauds.  I  am  quite  sure  that  District 
Attorney  Mann  acted  in  entire  good  faith,  and  that 
he  believed  prosecutions  might  be  successfully  con- 
ducted if  allowed  to  rest  for  two  or  three  terms.  I  said 
to  him  that  there  was  only  one  way  to  meet  such  a  con- 
dition, and  that  was  to  face  it  and  throttle  it,  and  I 
directed  him  to  send  the  bills  to  the  grand  jury. 


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319 


He  was  thus  relieved  of  all  responsibility  by  my 
positive  order  and  the  bills  went  to  the  grand  jury, 
where  precisely  the  same  testimony  that  had  been 
given  before  the  magistrate  was  given,  and  after  holding 
the  bills  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  they  were  returned 
ignored.  William  H.  Ruddiman,  then  a  prominent 
Republican  member  of  the  house,  and  a  man  of  high 
character,  was  called  into  the  case  with  the  assent  of 
the  Municipal  Association,  and  asked  to  go  before  the 
court,  present  the  testimony  in  open  court  that  had 
been  given  to  the  grand  jury,  and  ask  the  court  to 
return  the  bills  to  the  grand  jury  for  reconsideration. 
Every  material  point  of  testimony  was  given  in  open 
court,  and  the  court  at  once  ordered  the  bills  to  be 
returned  to  the  grand  jury,  with  instructions  to  give 
proper  consideration  to  the  testimony.  The  bills 
were  thus  recommitted  and  were  held  by  the  grand  jury 
until  the  last  day  of  court,  when  they  were  again  re- 
turned ignored. 

The  active  members  of  the  Municipal  Association 
were  aroused  to  great  earnestness  of  purpose  in  pros- 
ecuting the  election  frauds  by  the  action  of  the  grand 
jury,  and  Henry  C.  Lea,  who  was  the  leading  spirit  of 
the  association,  called  upon  me  and  said  that  he  him- 
self would  become  the  prosecutor  if  I  would  furnish 
him  a  case  where  the  testimony  was  absolutely  con- 
clusive as  to  the  guilty  parties.  It  was  very  easy  to 
furnish  such  a  case,  and  I  took  care  to  select  a  man  for 
arrest  of  as  little  political  importance  as  possible. 
Witnesses  were  brought  before  Mr.  Lea  and  his  counsel, 
whose  testimony  established  the  guilt  of  the  accused 
parties  beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt.  Mr.  Lea 
believed  that  his  appearance  as  personal  prosecutor 
in  the  court  and  chairman  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Municipal  Reform  Association  would  compel 
the  grand  jury  to  pay  some  respect  to  the  law  and  the 


320 


Old  Time  Notes 


evidence  in  cases  of  election  frauds.  The  arrest  was 
promptly  made  and  witnesses,  whose  testimony  made 
a  conclusive  case  against  the  prisoner,  appeared  before 
the  grand  jury.  The  bill  was  held  by  the  jury  until 
near  the  close  of  the  term  of  the  court,  when  it  was 
returned  ignored  and  the  prosecutor  to  pay  the  costs. 
So  far  from  commanding  the  respect  of  the  grand  jury 
for  the  high  position  Mr.  Lea  occupied,  not  only  as 
one  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  but  as 
the  representative  of  the  Municipal  Reform  Association, 
he  simply  provoked  the  Machine  leaders  to  the  most 
arrogant  assertion  of  their  authority,  and  they  aimed 
directly  to  humiliate  him  by  requiring  him  to  pay  the 
costs  of  the  prosecution  in  a  case  where  every  juror 
knew  that  the  accused  party  was  guilty  of  the  crime 
charged. 

The  aroused  popular  feeling  against  permitting  a 
continuance  of  the  systematic  corruption  of  the  ballot 
in  Philadelphia  was  intensified  by  the  evidence  pre- 
sented from  day  to  day  before  the  senate  committee 
in  the  trial  of  the  McClure-Gray  case,  and  the  public 
press  of  the  city  was  practically  unanimous  in  calling 
a  halt  in  this  blistering  shame,  and  also  in  demanding 
the  repeal  of  the  registry  law.  My  contest  for  senator 
was  not  decided  until  the  last  week  of  the  session,  too 
late  to  attempt  the  passage  of  any  reform  measures, 
but  I  carefully  prepared  a  new  election  law  during 
the  summer,  uniform  throughout  the  entire  State, 
containing  every  reasonable  safeguard  against  corrup- 
tion of  the  ballot.  Soon  after  the  session  of  1873 
opened,  I  read  the  bill  in  place.  It  was  so  fair  in  its 
provisions  that  it  was  difficult  for  senators  to  meet  the 
question  in  debate,  and  the  Republican  leaders  finally 
secretly  decided  that  they  would  make  no  objection 
whatever  to  the  consideration  of  the  bill  at  any  time 
I  called  for  it,  and  would  permit  its  passage  in  that 


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321 


body  by  a  unanimous  vote.  The  chief  purpose  in 
refraining  from  any  hostile  discussion  was  to  prevent 
the  exposure  of  the  Philadelphia  frauds  that  would 
be  inevitable  if  debate  was  provoked ;  and,  as  they  had 
entire  confidence  that  the  house  would  not  pass  any 
election  bill,  they  felt  quite  safe  in  permitting  it  to 
pass  the  senate  without  opposition. 

Copies  of  the  bill  had  been  furnished  to  the  leading 
journals  of  the  State,  and  called  out  very  general  and 
earnest  approval  from  most  of  the  influential  news- 
papers. After  ample  time  had  been  given  for  the  con- 
sideration of  the  measure  by  senators  and  for  public 
criticism  I  asked  the  senate  to  fix  a  special  evening 
session  for  the  consideration  of  the  bill,  and  it  was 
unanimously  adopted.  When  the  special  session  met 
the  first  section  of  the  bill  was  read,  and  I  addressed 
the  senate,  simply  pointing  out  the  leading  features 
of  the  bill  and  the  errors  they  were  intended  to  correct. 
It  was  proper  in  thus  explaining  the  bill  at  the  outset 
to  do  it  without  violent  assault  upon  any,  but  I  hoped 
that  debate  would  follow  to  give  me  an  opportunity 
to  review  the  general  methods  of  Philadelphia  elec- 
tions. I  discovered,  however,  that  that  was  just 
v/hat  the  party  leaders  did  not  want,  and  intended  not 
to  permit.  When  I  had  closed  the  brief  address 
explanatory  of  the  bill  it  was  read  section  by  section, 
and  passed  unanimously,  and  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  party  leaders  to  have  the  rules  suspended,  pass  the 
bill  finally  that  night  and  thus  dispose  of  it. 

It  was  common  under  the  old  Constitution  when  bills 
were  passed  up  to  third  reading  without  opposition,  for 
the  speaker  to  put  the  question  to  the  senate  whether 
the  rules  should  be  suspended  and  the  bill  read  a  third 
time  by  its  title  for  final  passage,  and  the  speaker  of 
the  senate  followed  the  rule,  I  arose  and  suggested  that 
I  wished  to  give  further  consideration  to  one  or  two 


2 — 21 


322 


Old  Time  Notes 


features  of  the  bill,  and  asked  that  it  lie  over  until  that 
evening  a  week,  when  a  special  session  should  be  called 
for  its  final  consideration,  and  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  to.  As  a  further  peace  offering  a  motion  came 
from  one  of  the  party  leaders  that  10,000  copies  of 
the  bill,  with  my  address  in  support  of  it,  be  printed  for 
the  use  of  the  senate. 

It  was  then  obvious  that  debate  on  the  bill  in  the 
senate  was  not  to  be  permitted,  and  I  was  greatly 
disappointed,  as  none  of  the  varied  corrupt  methods 
employed  in  Philadelphia  elections  had  even  been 
referred  to  before  the  senate. 

When  the  senate  adjourned  I  called  on  Mr.  Pedrick, 
then  connected  with  the  Associated  Press,  and  asked 
him  to  write  a  despatch  for  the  Associated  Press, 
stating  that  Senator  McClure's  election  bill  had  been 
considered  at  a  special  session  of  the  senate,  and  after 
an  explanatory  speech  from  the  senator  was  passed 
to  third  reading,  when  it  was  postponed  for  final  con- 
sideration at  a  special  session  to  be  held  a  week  later, 
and  Senator  White,  of  Indiana,  was  expected  then  to 
reply  to  Senator  McClure.  White  was  a  candidate 
for  Governor  and  had  great  hopes  of  securing  the 
machine  organization  of  Philadelphia  to  bring  a  solid 
delegation  for  him  from  the  city,  and  while  the  sen- 
atorial party  leaders  had  generally  understood  the 
importance  of  avoiding  debate  on  the  election  bill  in 
the  senate,  and  especially  avoiding  giving  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  portray  the  appalling  frauds  practised  in 
the  city,  the  machine  leaders  in  Philadelphia  generally 
believed  that  such  a  policy  was  cowardly,  and  insisted 
that  the  attitude  of  the  party  should  be  openly  and 
defiantly  defended. 

When  the  newspapers  of  the  next  morning  reached 
the  senate,  all  of  them  containing  the  notice  that 
Senator  White  was  to  defend  the  Philadelphia  election 


of  Pennsylvania 


323 


system  of  the  party,  they  at  once  excited  very  general 
interest,  and  White  was  visibly  disturbed,  as  he  knew 
the  policy  of  his  senatorial  associates  was  against 
permitting  any  discussion  on  the  question  in  the 
senate,  but  the  zeal  of  party  leaders  outside  of  the 
senate  greatly  outran  their  discretion,  and  they  very 
heartily  congratulated  White,  assuming  that  he  had 
decided  to  come  to  the  defense  of  the  corrupt  political 
system  of  the  city.  White  and  I  sat  in  adjoining 
seats  in  the  front  row  of  senators,  but  the  subject  was 
never  referred  to  by  either  of  us,  and  I  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  his  purpose  until  the  special  session  met  on 
the  evening  appointed,  when,  after  the  title  of  the  bill 
was  read.  White  took  the  floor  in  opposition.  The 
senate  was  crowded,  and  the  entire  Machine  delegation 
from  the  house  was  present  to  cheer  the  Indiana 
senator  in  his  defense  of  their  election  system.  White's 
speech  was  able,  ingenious  and  plausible,  as  he  was  a 
debater  of  much  more  than  ordinary  ability,  but  he 
was  specially  vulnerable  on  the  issue  then  at  hand, 
as  he  had,  in  my  own  presence  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, conferred  with  the  potent  political  leaders  of 
Philadelphia  on  the  subject  of  revising  the  registry  law 
and  earnestly  advised  it  because  the  act  could  not 
be  justified. 

His  speech  naturally  called  out  the  facts  that  he 
had  knowledge,  and  publicly  confessed  knowledge, 
of  the  infamous  features  of  the  registry  law,  and  had 
advised  the  revision  of  the  law  to  eliminate  some  of 
its  most  objectionable  features.  White  had  thus 
opened  wide  the  door  for  me  to  arraign  the  election 
system  of  Philadelphia,  and  present  all  its  sickening 
infamies,  and  it  was  done  with  all  the  earnestness 
and  ardor  I  could  command.  White  left  the  hall  of 
the  senate  beforp  I  closed,  and  when  I  sat  down  there 
was  dead  silence  in  the  hall,  as  the  expectation  was 


324 


Old  Time  Notes 


general  that  White  or  some  other  senator  would  reply, 
but  as  none  claimed  the  floor  the  speaker  put  the 
question  on  the  final  passage  of  the  bill  and  it  passed 
without  dissent. 

The  party  leaders  felt  no  special  concern  about  the 
passage  of  the  bill  in  the  senate,  as  they  had  absolute 
confidence  that  it  would  never  reach  even  a  respectable 
hearing  in  the  house;  but  conditions  arose  which 
finally  enabled  me  to  command  enough  Republican 
votes  in  the  house  to  pass  the  measure,  and  very  largely 
through  the  men  who  were  counted  on  as  most  certain 
to  oppose  it.  In  point  of  fact,  the  bill  was  passed  in 
the  house  largely  by  the  votes  of  men  who  owed  their 
election  entirely  to  the  frauds  made  possible  by  the 
registry  law.  Under  the  old  Constitution  there  was 
little  or  no  restraint  upon  private  legislation,  and  nine- 
tenths  of  all  the  bills  passed  were  merely  local  measures. 
Philadelphia  had  rather  a  unique  Machine  delegation 
in  the  house,  in  which  were  Handy  Smith,  Bob  Titter- 
mary,  Jack  McCullough,  Ad  Albright,  Joe  Ashe,  Sam 
Daniels  and  others  of  like  devotion  to  the  theory  of 
carrying  elections  by  machinery.  The  Philadelphia 
representatives  did  not,  as  a  rule,  serve  in  the  Legis- 
lature for  the  benefit  of  their  health,  and  every  member 
from  the  city  who  was  of  a  speculative  turn  of  mind 
brought  with  him  a  number  of  local  bills,  opening  or 
vacating  streets,  changing  grades,  enlarging  or  other- 
wise amending  local  charters,  etc.,  all  of  which  were 
of  individual  interest  to  business  men,  who  had  learned 
that  the  only  way  to  get  their  bills  passed  was  to  make 
a  lump  cash  contract  vv^ith  their  representatives,  and 
generally  they  did  not  then  have  to  give  any  further 
attention  to  the  matter.  The  rates  for  the  passage 
of  such  bills  ranged  from  $500  up  to  five  times  that 
amount. 

Strang  was  speaker  of  the  senate,  and,  much  to  the 


of  Pennsylvania  325 

disappointment  of  the  party  leaders,  made  me  chair- 
man of  municipal  affairs,  with  a  committee  of  my  own 
selection.  A  host  of  these  private  bills  relating  to 
Philadelphia  had  been  passed  by  the  members  of  the 
house  interested  in  them,  and  when  they  reached  the 
senate  they  were  referred  to  my  committee,  where  I 
held  them  all  until  near  the  close  of  the  session,  expect- 
ing that  they  might  become  an  important  factor  in 
some  wholesome  legislation.  I  knew  all  of  the  mem- 
bers well,  and  they  did  not  conceal  from  me  the  pecu- 
niary interest  they  had  in  the  passage  of  their  bills. 
Most  of  them  were  entirely  harmless  and  should  have 
passed  entirely  on  their  merits.  I  was  often  and  earn- 
estly importuned  by  the  representatives  interested  in 
them  to  report  them  for  passage,  and  I  answered  that 
all  would  be  reported  in  time  for  consideration  before 
the  close  of  the  session. 

There  were  a  number  of  manly  Republicans  in  the 
house  who  believed  that  the  new  election  law  should 
be  accepted,  and  were  ready  to  give  it  their  support  if 
its  passage  could  be  assured,  and  I  finally  ascertained 
that  with  the  aid  of  the  Philadelphia  members  inter- 
ested in  the  speculative  bills  the  new  election  bill  could 
be  carried  through  the  house,  and  I  saw  the  opportunity 
for  utilizing  those  who  had  large  pecuniary  interests 
in  local  Philadelphia  bills.  I  summoned  several  of 
them  to  a  private  conference  and  informed  them  that 
all  of  their  bills  would  be  reported  and  promptly  passed 
if  they  complied  with  two  conditions,  both  of  which 
were  entirely  just.  First,  they  must  pass  the  new 
election  law,  and,  second,  they  must  vote  to  John  A. 
Faunce  full  salary  as  a  member  of  the  house,  as  he 
had  been  elected  and  had  been  fraudulently  ejected  in 
a  contest  by  one  who  was  very  largely  interested  in 
these  local  bills.  This  proposition  was  given  to  them 
as  an  ultimatum,  and  they  had  to  choose  between 


326 


Old  Time  Notes 


compliance  and  losing  their  scores  of  speculative  meas- 
ures. They  readily  agreed  to  vote  the  salary  to  Mr. 
Faunce,  but  the  idea  of  voting  for  the  reform  election 
bill  was  appalling.  I  was  resolute,  however,  and  they 
finally  agreed  to  the  terms  proposed.  The  result  was 
the  passage  of  the  new  election  law  in  disregard  of 
the  orders  of  leaders,  and  Mr.  Faunce  was  voted  his 
salary.  When  they  had  fulfilled  every  part  of  the  con- 
tract the  municipal  committee  reported  and  promptly 
passed  the  entire  list  of  speculative  private  bills.  With 
very  few  exceptions  the  local  bills  referred  to  were 
unobjectionable,  and  in  no  instance  was  one  of  them 
specially  offensive  or  unjust.  Such  is  the  story  of  the 
battle  for  the  overthrow  of  the  registry  law  of  Phila- 
delphia, the  most  infamous  election  system  ever  adopted 
in  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


327 


LXXXI. 


THE  GRANT-GREELEY  CONTEST. 


Grant's  Special  Efforts  to  Harmonize  the  Curtin  Elements  in  Pennsyl- 
vania— The  Author  Twice  Urged  to  Visit  Grant  with  a  View  of  Har- 
monizing the  Party  on  a  New  Cabinet  Appointment — Organization 
of  the  Liberal  Republican  Movement  in  the  State — The  Author 
Chairman  of  the  State  Committee,  and  of  the  Delegation  to  the  Cin- 
cinnati Convention — Greeley's  Visit  to  Philadelphia  to  Secure  the 
Support  of  the  Delegation  for  President — Final  Agreement  on  Davis 
for  President  with  Greeley  for  Vice-President — The  Brief  Greeley  Tidal 
Wave — Business  Interests  Aroused  and  Suddenly  Halted  It — The 
Sad  End  of  the  Life  of  the  Great  Philanthropist. 


IHE  year  1872  narrowly  escaped  being  one  of 


the  distinct  revolutionary  periods  in  the  politi- 


cal  annals  of  the  Republic,  and  had  the  revolu- 
tion succeeded,  the  political  history  of  the  country 
would  have  been  radically  changed,  and  the  Repub- 
lican mastery  of  the  Nation  either  overthrown  or  so 
seriously  broken  as  to  place  it  in  the  attitude  of  an 
opposition  party.  Grant's  first  administration  was  a 
serious  failure;  a  failure  in  nearly  every  important 
feature  of  the  governmental  authority.  Grant  was 
slow  to  learn  that  military  and  civil  authority  were  two 
very  distinct  prerogatives,  and  he  made  no  effort  to 
popularize  himself,  or  to  reconcile  the  opposing  ele- 
ments until  he  saw  the  threatened  tempest  as  the 
serious  agitation  for  the  succession  to  the  Presidency 
was  generally  discussed  after  the  elections  of  187 1. 
When  Congress  assembled  in  December,  187 1,  the 
opposition  to  Grant  became  aggressive,  and  embraced 
in  its  leadership  a  number  of  the  ablest  of  the  Republi- 


328 


Old  Time  Notes 


can  Senators,  including  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts; 
Trumbull,  of  Illinios;  Fenton,  of  New  York;  Schurz, 
of  Missouri,  and  others,  and  for  the  first  time  Grant 
seemed  to  realize  that  he  might  have  a  serious  contest 
for  re-election. 

It  is  due  to  President  Grant  to  say  that  he  made 
several  efforts  to  harmonize  political  conditions  in 
Pennsylvania  by  movements  that  were  not  known  to 
the  public.  Governor  Curtin,  then  Minister  to  Russia, 
had  given  notice  of  his  purpose  to  retire  and  return  to 
his  home  in  Pennsylvania,  and  when  he  was  on  his 
journey  homeward  he  was  met  in  Paris  by  a  man  of 
National  prominence,  who  stated  to  Curtin  that  he  was 
distinctly  authorized  to  offer  him  his  choice  of  either 
the  French  or  English  missions  if  he  would  remain  in 
the  diplomatic  service.  Curtin  declined  the  offer, 
stating  that  his  business  interests  required  him  to 
return  to  his  home.  When  he  arrived  in  London,  after 
spending  some  time  in  Paris,  he  was  met  there  by 
another  very  prominent  official  of  our  government, 
and  earnestly  urged  to  accept  the  English  mission. 
The  assurance  was  given  that  President  Grant  had 
directly  authorized  the  proposition  to  be  made  to 
Curtin.  He  could  only  repeat  his  declination,  as  long 
before  he  left  Russia  he  had  definitely  decided  to  return 
home  and  to  make  exhaustive  effort  to  oppose  the 
renomination  or  re-election  of  Grant. 

Some  time  in  the  late  fall  of  187 1  Mr.  Borie,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
under  Grant,  called  at  my  office,  and,  learning  that  I 
was  at  Colonel  Forney's  ''Press"  office,  he  came  there, 
and,  after  the  usual  salutations,  he  said  that  he  was 
glad  to  find  Colonel  Forney  present,  as  what  he  had  to 
sa.y  was  a  matter  that  could  be  discussed  very  freely 
in  his  presence.  He  said  that  he  was  directed  by  the 
President  to  tender  me  the  office  of  United  States  Dis- 


of  Pennsylvania 


trict  Attorney,  and  earnestly  urged  my  acceptance  of 
it.  Independent  of  all  political  considerations,  I  could 
not  have  accepted  the  office,  as  it  would  have  lessened 
rather  than  increased  my  professional  income  at  that 
time,  and  greatly  increased  my  labors.  Colonel  Forney 
heard  the  proposition,  and  made  no  suggestion  until 
after  I  had  given  my  reply.  I  stated  that  my  accept- 
ance of  the  office  would  be  very  unfair  to  District 
Attorney  McMichael,  who  then  held  the  position  and 
discharged  the  duties  with  credit,  and  that  it  could  be 
regarded  in  no  other  light  than  as  an  effort  to  bring 
into  the  support  of  Grant  the  Curtin  elements  of  the 
party,  which  had  been  relentlessly  ostracised  for  three 
years.  I  informed  Mr.  Borie  that  my  appointment 
would  not  in  any  measure  harmonize  the  party;  that 
there  could  be  no  party  harmony  until  there  should  be 
actual,  open  and  positive  change  in  the  prospective 
policy  of  the  administration,  and  the  distinct  recogni- 
tion of  the  Republicans  of  the  State  on  their  merits, 
regardless  of  factional  interests.  Mr.  Borie  insisted 
that  such  was  the  purpose  of  the  administration, 
but  I  reminded  him  that  it  would  be  utterly  im- 
possible for  any  such  policy  to  be  inaugurated  when 
Cameron  was  in  the  Senate  and  held  in  his  hands 
the  confirmation  of  Pennsylvania  appointments.  Mr. 
Borie  was  a  novice  in  politics,  kind  and  generous  in 
disposition,  and  was  very  desirous  to  have  the  party 
harmonized  in  support  of  Grant's  re-election.  Forney 
entirely  agreed  with  me  that  under  no  circumstances 
could  I  accept  the  office  proposed,  without  an  openly 
proclaimed  change  of  policy  by  which  the  proscription 
of  Curtin 's  friends  should  be  ended,  and  in  that  event 
there  would  be  no  necessity  to  tender  me  any  public 
position. 

A  few  weeks  thereafter  it  became  known  that  a 
change  was  about  to  be  made  in  the  cabinet  by  the 


330 


Old  Time  Notes 


retirement  of  Attorney  General  Ackerman,  who  was 
succeeded  by  Mr.  Williams,  of  Oregon,  on  the  loth  of 
January,  1872,  and  a  prominent  administration  official, 
residing  in  Washington,  called  on  me  and  informed  me 
that  the  President  desired  to  confer  with  me  in  relation 
to  the  political  situation  in  Pennsylvania,  and  especially 
in  reference  to  the  appointment  of  a  new  cabinet  officer. 
I  asked  him  whether  the  President  had  sent  him 
specially  to  inform  me  that  the  President  desired  me 
to  visit  him  in  Washington,  as  a  personal  request  from 
the  President  would  be  accepted  by  any  citizen  as  a 
command. 

He  answered  frankly  that  he  could  not  say  that  he 
had  been  sent  to  deliver  that  message  to  me  from  the 
President,  but  that  the  President  had  expressed  a 
desire  to  have  a  conference,  and  upon  that  he  had  acted 
upon  his  own  responsibility.  I  answered  that  I  could 
not  visit  the  President  on  such  a  mission  without  his 
personal  request.  I  had  not  been  in  the  White  Plouse 
during  the  entire  period  of  his  administration  and  could 
not  hope  to  make  such  a  visit  without  attracting  some 
attention  from  the  newspaper  men,  with  whom  I  was 
very  intimately  associated.  If  I  made  such  a  visit,  and 
thereafter  did  not  support  the  President,  it  would  be 
naturally  assumed  that  I  had  obtruded  myself  upon  him 
to  ask  political  conditions  that  he  could  not  accept,  and 
I  would  be  classed  as  opposing  him  because  I  could  not 
obtain  what  was  desired. 

Ten  days  later  I  was  in  New  York  engaged  on  some 
business,  where  I  was  detained  two  or  three  days,  and 
received  a  despatch  from  Senator  Wilson,  of  Massa- 
chusetts, stating  that  he  had  called  at  my  office  and 
would  proceed  to  New  York  and  dine  with  me  at  the 
Hoffman  House  that  evening,  as  he  had  important 
matters  to  present.  I  had  known  Wilson  intimately 
for  many  years,  and,  like  all  who  knew  him,  had  great 


Of  Pennsylvania 


331 


affection  for  him  and  confidence  in  all  that  he  did  and 
said.  He  told  me  frankly  that  he  had  no  message 
from  the  President  for  me,  but  that  he  had  left  the 
President  the  evening  before  and  had  discussed  the 
political  situation  very  freely,  presenting  the  perils 
which  confronted  Grant  in  his  contest  for  re-election. 
He  suggested  to  Grant  that  with  Grant's  permission  he 
would  call  upon  me  and  bring  me  to  Washington  to 
confer  on  the  subject  of  a  cabinet  appointment  that 
should  be  given  to  Pennsylvania,  satisfactory  to  the 
friends  of  Curtin.  Wilson  was  very  earnest  in  urging 
me  to  accompany  him  to  Washington  the  following 
day,  but  when  I  fully  explained  the  peculiar  conditions 
existing  in  Pennsylvania  and  how  the  appointment  of 
a  Curtin  cabinet  officer  would  only  multiply  embar- 
rassments and  lead  to  enlarged  estrangements,  he 
admitted  that  he  could  not  complain  of  my  refusal  to 
accompany  him  to  Washington. 

I  reminded  him  that  with  a  Curtin  man  in  the  cabinet 
from  Pennsylvania  there  v/ould  be  direct  conflict  be- 
tween the  cabinet  officers  and  Senator  Cameron  on 
every  important  appointment  relating  to  the  State, 
and  as  Cameron  could  not  be  displaced  as  Senator, 
while  a  cabinet  officer  could  be  displaced  at  any  time, 
the  result  must  inevitably  be  that  the  Curtin  cabinet 
officer  must  bow  to  the  continued  ostracism  and  pro- 
scription of  his  friends  or  cause  a  new  factional  erup- 
tion that  must  result  in  his  dismissal.  These  facts  are 
mentioned  to  show  that  Grant  was  not  indifferent  to 
the  terrible  mutterings  which  arose  against  him  at  the 
close  of  the  year  187 1,  but  he  was  without  political  tact 
and  evidently  had  few  advisers  possessed  of  that  qual- 
ity. So  far  as  Curtin  and  myself  were  concerned  he 
certainly  meant  to  make  a  generous  tender  of  recogni- 
tion, but  he  was  forgetful  of  the  fact  that  neither  Curtin 
nor  myself  was  seeking  positions  of  any  kind,  and  that 


332 


Old  Time  Notes 


it  was  the  vindictive  policy  of  factional  proscription 
that  forced  us  into  the  ranks  of  opposition  to  the  admin- 
istration. Grant  evidently  believed  that  I  was  unrea- 
sonably obstinate  and  that  doubtless  led  to  his  vindic- 
tive hostility  to  my  election  to  the  senate  on  the  30th 
of  January,  1872,  and  to  my  admission  to  that  body 
after  I  had  been  counted  out. 

At  the  time  of  the  occurrence  before  referred  to,  the 
idea  of  a  Liberal  Republican  organization  had  not  been 
seriously  considered,  and  the  Republicans  opposed  to 
Grant's  renomination  were  entirely  without  definite 
purpose  beyond  their  desire  to  make  an  effort  to  defeat 
his  renomination.  A  peculiar  issue  had  arisen  in  Mis- 
souri, where  sectional  passion  precipitated  murder 
between  neighbors  throughout  the  State,  resulting  in 
most  sweeping  disfranchisement  of  every  citizen  who 
had  directly  or  indirectly  aided  rebellion.  It  was  so 
monstrously  unjust  that  it  produced  a  reaction,  and  a 
Liberal  movement  was  made  to  revise  the  Constitution 
and  won  an  easy  victor}^,  in  which  Carl  Schurz  was  a 
prominent  leader.  The  Liberals  of  Missouri  were  not 
in  sympathy  with  the  administration  of  Grant,  and 
early  in  January,  1872,  a  number  of  the  leaders  of  that 
element  met  in  Jefferson  City  and  startled  the  country 
by  calling  a  National  convention  of  Liberal  Republicans 
to  meet  at  Cincinnati  on  the  first  of  May  to  nominate 
candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President.  It  Avas 
generally  regarded  at  first  as  a  mere  political  flash  in 
the  pan,  but  it  speedily  crystallized  a  number  of  the 
ablest  Republican  leaders  of  the  country  in  an  effort 
to  make  it  a  great  representative  body  and  thus  assure 
the  defeat  of  Grant,  believing  that  the  action  of  the 
Liberals  would  be  supported  by  the  Democrats. 

I  had  given  little  attention  to  this  movement  until 
Mr.  Greeley  visited  me  and  earnestly  urged  an  imme- 
diate Liberal  organization  in  the  State,  with  a  view  to 


of  Pennsylvania 


333 


sending  a  delegation  to  Cincinnati.  He  was  not  then 
prominently  discussed  as  a  Presidential  candidate,  nor 
did  he  intimate  that  he  desired  or  expected  to  be  a 
candidate.  I  had  known  Greeley  well  for  many  years, 
cherished  the  warmest  personal  affection  for  him  and 
was  in  entire  sympathy  with  him  in  his  opposition  to 
Grant's  re-election.  I  agreed  to  confer  with  a  number 
of  men  in  the  State  and  see  what  response  they  would 
make,  and  I  was  utterly  surprised  to  find  how  serious 
was  the  defection  against  Grant  among  many  of  the 
ablest  and  most  influential  of  the  Republican  leaders. 
From  the  response  that  I  received  from  such  men  as 
ex-Congressman  Galusha  A.  Grow,  J.  K.  Moorehead, 
Henry  L.  Cake,  David  Barclay  and  William  Stewart, 
with  ex-Senators  Mason,  of  Bradford;  Benson,  of 
Potter;  Lowrey,  of  Erie,  and  active  campaigners  like 
Thomas  M.  Marshall,  of  Allegheny;  WilHam  H.  Ruddi- 
man,  of  Philadelphia;  M.  C.  Boyer,  of  Montgomery, 
and  many  others,  it  was  evident  that  the  Pennsylvania 
Republicans  were  ready  for  revolutionary  action,  and 
a  conference  of  a  number  of  leaders  was  convened  in 
Philadelphia  at  an  early  day,  a  State  committee  organ- 
ized and  a  delegation  selected  to  attend  the  Cincinnati 
convention,  of  which  I  was  made  chairman. 

The  State  committee  was  made  up  of  the  most  active 
and  influential  old-time  Republicans  in  every  county 
in  the  State,  and  the  delegation  to  Cincinnati  would 
have  compared  favorably  with  any  Republican  dele- 
gation in  the  regular  National  convention.  As  chair- 
man of  the  Liberal  State  committee  I  opened  up  cor- 
respondence with  prominent  Republicans  generally 
throughout  the  State,  and  the  answers  clearly  proved 
the  general  unrest  and  distrust  throughout  the  ranks 
of  the  party  and  the  readiness  for  revolutionary  action 
if  there  was  hope  that  it  could  be  successfully  accom- 
plished.   At  the  close  of  that  campaign  I  destroyed 


334 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  letters  by  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  Republicans 
in  the  State  of  local  prominence,  and  many  of  them 
even  of  State  distinction,  who  expressed  their  entire 
sympathy  with  the  Liberal  movement  and  their  pur- 
pose to  fall  in  with  the  procession  as  the  campaign  pro- 
gressed. 

Greeley  soon  became  prominently  discussed  as  a  can- 
didate for  President,  along  with  David  Davis,  B.  Gratz 
Brown,  Charles  Francis  Adams  and  others,  but  with  all 
my  affection  for  Greeley  I  could  not  entertain  the  ques- 
tion of  crucifying  him  by  making  him  a  Presidential 
candidate  to  face  inevitable  defeat.  Some  three  weeks 
before  the  meeting  of  the  Cincinnati  convention, 
Greeley  made  an  appointment  to  meet  me  at  the 
Colonnade  Hotel  in  Philadelphia,  and  he  there  frankly 
told  me  that  he  believed  he  could  be  nominated  for 
President  and  appealed  to  me  to  give  him  the  support 
of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  as  far  as  might  be  in 
my  power.  It  was  a  painful  interview,  for  there  was 
no  man  living  whom  to  serve  would  have  given  me 
greater  pleasure,  but  I  frankly  told  him  that  a  Liberal 
Republican  nomination  would  be  valueless  without 
the  support  of  the  Democrats,  and  as  he  had  been  their 
most  stinging  critic  for  thirty  years,  he  could  not  hope 
to  command  their  support.  I  reminded  him  that 
there  was  but  one  who  was  in  a  position  to  command 
the  support  of  the  Democratic  party  in  its  entirety, 
and  also  to  command  the  support  of  the  Republicans 
who  desired  to  end  the  reign  of  Grant,  and  that  was 
David  Davis.  Greeley  was  greatly  disappointed  and 
deeply  grieved,  but  he  knew  that  I  was  sincere,  and  he 
felt  that  my  judgment  was  entitled  to  respect.  He 
finally  said,  ''Well,  if  the  Democrats  won't  take  me 
head  foremost,  perhaps  they  will  take  me  boots  fore- 
most," meaning  that  he  might  be  nominated  for  Vice- 
President  with  Davis.    I  told  him  that  could  be  done, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


335 


and  he  left  me  apparently  reconciled  to  the  nomination 
of  Davis  for  the  Presidency  and  himself  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency. 

Soon  after  I  met  United  States  Senator  Fenton,  who 
was  the  leader  of  the  Greeley  delegation  in  the  Cincin- 
nati convention,  and  found  that  he  and  Greeley  had 
conferred  on  the  subject,  and  that  he  was  heartily  in 
favor  of  Davis  and  Greeley.  The  Pennsylvania  dele- 
gation was  made  up  of  about  one-third  of  the  radical 
element  of  the  party  that  did  not  want  Davis,  because 
of  his  conservatism,  but  two-thirds  of  them  promptly 
and  heartily  agreed  to  the  support  of  Davis  and  Greeley. 
A  conference  was  held  in  Cincinnati  the  night  before 
the  convention  met,  at  which  many  of  the  leaders  of 
the  convention  attended,  and  plans  were  perfected,  as 
we  supposed,  for  the  nomination  of  Davis  and  Greeley 
on  the  following  day.  Believing  that  everything  was 
arranged,  we  tarried  over  a  late  supper,  and  while  we 
were  thus  enjoying  ourselves,  Frank  Blair,  of  Missouri, 
whose  candidate  for  the  Presidency  was  Gratz  Brown, 
seeing  that  the  combination  left  Brown  entirely  out, 
proposed  to  make  a  combination  with  Greeley  for  Presi- 
dent and  Brown  for  Vice-President,  and  on  the  follov/- 
ing  morning  it  was  discovered  that  the  friends  of 
Greeley,  who  were  a  very  important  element  of  the 
Davis  strength,  were  forced  out  of  our  line  and  com- 
pelled to  fall  back  to  the  support  of  Greeley  for  Presi- 
dent. Senator  Fenton  earnestly  protested  against  it 
as  a  wrong  to  Greeley,  but  without  avail. 

The  conservative  forces  were  somewhat  divided 
between  David  Davis  and  Charles  Francis  Adams,  and 
as  the  defection  of  the  Greeley  men  had  left  the  Davis 
forces  much  smaller  than  the  Adams  forces,  we  dropped 
Davis  as  a  hopeless  candidate  and  joined  in  the  support 
of  Adams.  Two-thirds  of  the  Pennsylvania  delega- 
tion voted  for  Adams  after  the  first  ballot,  when  the}^ 


336 


Old  Time  Notes 


voted  for  Curtin.  On  the  sixth  ballot  Greeley  lacked 
only  a  few  votes  of  the  nomination,  and  changes  were 
promptly  made  in  several  of  the  delegations  to  give 
him  the  requisite  ballot.  Not  until  he  had  received 
a  majority  of  the  votes  did  I  propose  to  our  delegation 
to  change  the  vote  of  the  State,  and  it  was  then  changed 
and  the  vote  cast  for  Greeley.  I  regarded  it  as  a  prac- 
tical surrender  of  the  battle,  as  I  did  not  believe  it 
possible  that  the  Democrats  could  be  brought  to  the 
support  of  Greeley,  but  their  condition  was  one  of  utter 
hopelessness,  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  before  mid- 
night that  a  number  of  the  Democratic  leaders  there 
sent  out  instructions  to  their  States  to  hold  themselves 
in  readiness  to  accept  the  Liberal  Republican  ticket, 
and,  as  is  well  known,  the  Democratic  National  con- 
vention gave  a  practically  unanimous  vote  to  Greeley 
and  Brown  as  their  candidates. 

At  that  time,  when  Greeley  had  apparently  the 
united  support  of  the  Democrats  and  was  enthusiastic- 
ally supported  by  most  of  the  Liberals,  the  re-election 
of  Grant  seemed  to  be  absolutely  impossible.  From 
that  time  until  midsummer  it  seemed  to  be  simply  a 
tidal  wave  North  and  South  for  Greeley,  and  his  elec- 
tion was  generally  accepted  by  his  supporters  and  by 
very  many  of  his  opponents  as  absolutely  assured,  but 
when  the  revulsion  came  it  was  overwhelming  in  its 
pov/er,  and  from  causes  which  were  entirely  reasonable. 
The  country  was  then  in  a  state  of  fearful  inflation, 
extravagance  prevailed  in  all  classes  and  conditions, 
speculation  ran  riot,  and  all  thinking  men  knew  that 
liquidation  must  come  sooner  or  later,  and  soon  at  the 
latest,  with  fearful  disaster  in  its  trail.  The  question 
of  resumption  of  specie  payments  was  agitated  by  those 
who  regarded  sound  credit  as  more  important  than 
inflated  prosperity,  and  Greeley's  only  utterance  on 
the  financial  question  was  that    the  way  to  resume  is 


Of  Pennsylvania 


337 


to  resume,"  clearly  indicating  that  he  thought  the  mat- 
ter of  resuming  specie  payments  was  a  mere  question 
of  directing  it  to  be  done. 

Business  interests  of  the  country  were  awakened  to 
the  peril  that  confronted  them,  and  when  the  revulsion 
started  in  business  circles  it  was  the  sv/iftest  and  most 
far-reaching  of  any  revulsion  I  have  ever  seen  in  polit- 
ical contests.  Prominent  business  Democrats  of  Phila- 
delphia came  to  the  Republican  headquarters  and  vol- 
imtarily  paid  liberal  subscriptions  to  secure  the  election 
of  Grant.  They  knew  that  disaster  must  come,  but 
they  hoped  by  the  election  of  Grant  to  postpone  it  for 
another  four  years,  and  while  the  Democratic  leaders 
as  a  rule  supported  Greeley  ^vith  great  fidelity  the  rank 
and  file  remembered  him  only  as  the  man  who  poured 
out  his  keenest  invective  against  them  for  thirty  years, 
and  they  stubbornly  refused  to  support  the  ticket. 
More  than  enough  Republicans  voted  for  the  Greeley 
State  ticket  in  Pennsylvania  to  elect  it  by  a  large 
majority  if  the  Democrats  had  given  it  cordial  sup- 
port, but  in  nearly  or  quite  every  county  of  the  State 
the  combined  Democratic  and  Liberal  Republican  vote 
was  less  than  the  full  Democratic  vote.  They  would 
very  heartily  have  supported  Davis  and  Greeley  with 
him  for  second  on  the  ticket ;  and,  viewing  that  contest 
from  the  most  dispassionate  standpoint,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  had  Davis  been  nominated  he  would  have  been 
elected  by  a  very  large  majority,  with  the  probability 
that  the  new  party  would  have  maintained  its  power  for 
many  years.  Davis  would  have  greatly  tempered  the 
passions  of  the  Reconstruction  period,  would  have 
commanded  the  absolute  confidence  of  the  entire 
business  and  industrial  interests  of  the  country,  and 
sectional  strife  would  have  practically  perished  by  the 
close  of  his  administration. 

Although  I  regarded  the  contest  as  an  utterly  hope- 


2  22 


338 


Old  Time  Notes 


less  one  at  the  biginning  after  Greeley's  nomination,  I 
felt  that  I  could  not  do  less  than  accept  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  State  committee  and  devote  my  entire  time 
and  energy  to  the  contest.  My  affection  for  Greeley 
made  that  a  necessity,  and  after  his  nomination  by  the 
Democrats,  when  his  election  seemed  more  than  prob- 
able, I  shared  the  anxiety  of  Greeley's  closest  friends 
as  to  what  might  be  the  result  of  his  administration  as 
President.  About  that  time  I  was  summoned  to  a 
confidential  council  in  New  York,  at  which  Whitelaw 
Reid,  Waldo  Hutchins,  General  Cochrane  and  a  number 
of  others  were  present,  to  consider  the  question  of  hav- 
ing Greeley  forewarned  against  committing  himself  on 
the  question  of  his  cabinet,  as  all  seemed  to  agree  that  in 
the  event  of  his  election  the  safety  of  his  administration 
would  depend  upon  having  an  able  and  conservative 
body  of  constitutional  advisers.  They  charged  me  with 
the  duty  of  conferring  with  him  on  the  subject,  and  I 
was  directed  to  find  him  at  his  private  headquarters  in 
Brooklyn,  where  he  was  not  accessible  to  the  public. 
His  finely  chiseled,  benevolent  face  brightened  as  he 
spoke  of  his  assured  election,  and  when  I  ventured  to 
suggest  to  him  that  if  called  to  the  Presidency  with  such 
a  combination  of  political  supporters  the  choice  of  his 
cabinet  would  be  a  very  grave  duty,  and  that  he  should 
avoid  all  complications  on  the  subject,  he  assumed  that 
I  was  desiring  to  forestall  him  in  the  interests  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  he  promptly  replied  that  of  course  no  one 
would  be  appointed  to  the  cabinet  from  Pennsylvania 
without  my  approval.  He  was  surprised  when  I  told 
him  that  that  was  just  what  I  did  not  want;  that  it 
was  most  important  that  he  should  not  be  in  any  way 
committed  to  any  one  on  the  subject  of  the  cabinet,  as 
the  success  of  his  administration  would  depend  upon 
it,  and  that  such  a  cabinet  as  he  would  need  could  be 
determined  upon  only  after  his  election.    He  assented 


Of  Pennsylvania 


339 


to  the  proposition  and  gave  the  assurance  that  he 
would  be  entirely  free  to  advise  with  his  most  trusted 
friends  if  elected  President,  and  make  up  the  cabinet 
of  the  best  men  the  existing  conditions  presented.  He 
asked  me  to  go  to  North  Carolina  and  spend  a  week 
there,  which  I  did,  and  when  I  left  him  I  shook  him  by 
the  hand  for  the  last  time,  as  we  never  met  again.  I 
had  much  correspondence  with  him,  and  after  his 
defeat,  that  was  made  doubly  distressing  by  the  death 
of  his  wife,  I  wrote  him  expressing  the  sincerest  sym- 
pathy, and  had  in  reply  a  letter  written  the  last  day  he 
ever  held  a  pen  in  his  hand.  The  full  text  of  the  letter 
was  as  follows:  am  a  man  of  many  sorrows,  and 
doubtless  have  deserved  them,  but  I  beg  to  say  that  I 
do  not  forget  the  gallant  though  luckless  struggle  you 
made  in  my  behalf.  I  am  not  well."  His  physical 
power  was  hopelessly  broken,  and  soon  thereafter  it 
was  found  that  his  sorrows  had  unsettled  his  reason, 
and  in  a  few  days,  in  an  asylum  for  the  insane,  Horace 
Greeley,  one  of  the  noblest  and  best  of  American  phil- 
anthropists, passed  to  his  final  account 


340 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXII. 

DEMOCRATS  NOMINATE  CURTIN. 

Peculiar  Political  Complications  in  the  Contest  of  1872 — The  Evans 
Scandal — Some  $300,000  Awarded  a  Clerk  for  Collecting  Govern- 
ment Claims — Investigation  Moved  in  the  Senate — How  It  Ended — 
Hartranft  and  Buckalew  Nominated  for  Governor  by  Their  Respec- 
tive Parties — Curtin  Nominated  by  the  Liberal  Republicans  for 
the  Constitutional  Convention — Governor  Bigler  Retired  from 
Democratic  Ticket,  and  Curtin  Taken  in  His  Place — State  Contest 
Unusually  Desperate — Leaders  Would  Have  Withdrawn  Hartranft 
But  for  the  Younger  Cameron — Geary  Forced  to  Grant  Pardon  to 
Yerkes  and  Marcer — Attempt  of  the  Roosters  to  Make  Cameron 
Pay  for  His  Re-election — How  the  Governor's  Salary  Was  Increased 
from  $5,000  to  $10,000. 

THERE  were  many  and  unusually  strange  com- 
plications in  Pennsylvania  politics  in  1872.  Be- 
fore the  Republican  State  convention  met  to 
nominate  candidates  for  Governor,  Auditor  General, 
three  candidates  for  Congressmen-at-Large  and  twelve 
candidates  for  delegates-at-large  to  the  constitutional 
convention,  Curtin  and  many  of  his  followers  had 
already  cast  their  lot  with  the  Liberal  Republicans, 
and  were  therefore  unseen  and  unfelt  in  the  Republican 
organization  of  the  State.  General  Hartranft,  who 
would  have  been  the  Curtin  candidate  for  Governor  in 
1866,  had  he  not  been  forced  to  accept  the  nomination 
for  auditor  general  in  1865  to  defeat  Cameron's  attempt 
to  control  the  convention  and  organization  of  that  year, 
had  served  continuously  in  the  office  of  auditor  general, 
having  been  re-elected  in  1868.  In  the  meantime 
Robert  W.  Mackey  had  been  several  years  in  the  office 
of  State  treasurer,  and  his  exceptional  ability  as  a 


Of  Pennsylvania 


341 


political  leader  made  him  altogether  the  master  organ- 
izer and  general  director  of  the  Cameron  forces  of  the 
State,  and  they  had  undisputed  possession  of  the  party 
organization, 

Hartranft  had  served  as  auditor  general  with  Mackey 
in  the  State  treasury,  and  he  would  have  gradually 
drifted  away  from  the  party  element  that  originally 
supported  him  even  if  Curtin  had  remained  within  the 
party  breastworks.  A  serious  scandal  was  developed 
a  short  time  before  the  campaign  of  1872  opened  be- 
cause of  the  payment  to  an  entirely  obscure  man  and 
without  influence  the  sum  of  $300,000,  ostensibly  for 
services  as  State  agent  to  collect  some  unsettled  military 
claims  against  the  National  government.  In  point  of 
fact  there  was  no  difficulty  whatever  about  the  collec- 
tion of  the  money.  The  claims  had  been  distinctly 
defined  by  Governor  Curtin  and  State  Treasurer  Henry 
D  Moore,  and  the  collection  of  the  money  was  not  in 
any  degree  doubtful,  but  by  a  combination  of  promi- 
nent State  officials  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  Legislature 
authorizing  the  payment  of  a  large  percentage  to  the 
State  agent  for  the  collection  of  military  claims  against 
the  general  government.  Evans  was  appointed,  se- 
cured the  money  without  any  difficulty,  and  the  account- 
ing officers  of  the  State  apparently  paid  him  $300,000 
for  his  services.  It  developed  a  terrible  scandal  in  the 
State  and  involved  Governor  Hartranft,  among  other 
officials,  but  notwithstanding  the  efforts  made  in  the 
courts  and  in  the  Legislature  to  get  at  the  close  com- 
bination that  had  been  made  to  plunder  the  treasury, 
the  movement  was  defeated  in  every  instance  by  the 
combined  power  of  the  State  authorities. 

It  was  well  known  that  Evans  had  not  received  more 
than  a  mere  moiety  of  the  percentage  paid,  as  he  con- 
tinued to  live  obscurely  and  frugally  and  died  prac- 
tically without  estate.    During  the  campaign  of  1872, 


342 


Old  Time  Notes 


when  I  was  chairman  of  the  Liberal  State  committee, 
and  employed  the  best  detective  force  to  get  into  the 
inner  citadel  of  the  State  frauds,  I  obtained  positive 
and  indisputable  information  where  $52,000  of  the 
Evans'  $300,000  had  been  received  by  a  prominent 
man,  where  he  had  invested  it  and  how  the  securities 
were  then  held.  When  the  senate  met  in  1873,  we 
had  a  judiciary  committee,  composed  of  senators  of 
the  highest  character  and  legal  attainments,  and  I 
moved  that  the  committee  be  instructed  to  investigate 
the  payment  of  $300,000  to  Agent  Evans,  with  power 
to  send  for  persons  and  papers  and  to  report  by  bill  or 
otherwise.  The  motion  was  unanimously  adopted, 
and  the  committee  met  immediately  upon  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  senate.  The  information  was  furnished 
to  the  committee  in  detail,  and  it  was  decided  that  the 
following  week  subpoenas  should  be  issued  for  the 
witnesses  who  were  ready  to  prove  where  part  of  the 
Evans  money  had  gone.  It  was  decided  also  by  the 
committee  that  none  should  be  advised  of  its  meeting 
to  hear  the  witnesses  excepting  the  witnesses  them- 
selves and  a  single  officer  of  the  senate.  The  senate 
adjourned  on  Friday  until  the  following  Monday,  and 
on  Saturday  morning  the  person  against  whom  the 
investigation  was  specially  directed  suddenly  dropped 
dead  in  his  own  home.  No  subpoenas  were  issued, 
and  when  the  committee  met  the  next  week,  according 
to  appointment,  it  was  decided  that  no  investigation 
should  be  made  unless  positive  information  could  be 
had  affecting  other  parties.  The  result  was  that  the 
committee  never  met  again  and  made  no  report  what- 
ever to  the  senate.  Most  of  the  senators  understood 
the  situation,  and  the  scandal  was  dropped  by  general 
consent. 

Hartranft  was  nominated  for  Governor  by  what  war, 
then  the  Cameron  organization  of  the  State  under  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


343 


immediate  management  of  Mackey,  the  most  brilliant 
State  leader  any  party  ever  produced  in  Pennsylvania. 
Hartranft  had  won  great  distinction  as  a  volunteer 
officer  during  the  war,  and  he  was  in  fact  the  ideal 
volunteer  soldier  of  the  State.  He  was  an  officer  in 
the  Fourth  Pennsylvania  regiment  at  Manassas  just 
before  the  opening  of  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  when 
the  term  of  the  regiment  expired.  Instead  of  remain- 
ing and  joining  their  brethren  in  battle,  as  Hartranft 
earnestly  urged  them  to  do,  the  Fourth  regiment, 
as  stated  by  General  McDowell  in  his  official  report  of 
the  action,  marched  away  from  the  field  "  to  the  music 
of  the  enemy's  cannon."  Hartranft  at  once  severed' 
his  relations  with  his  regiment,  volunteered  as  a  staff 
officer,  served  through  the  action,  and  was  soon  again 
in  the  field  as  colonel  of  a  new  regiment.  He  made 
no  effort  to  exploit  himself  as  a  soldier  through  the 
newspapers,  but  in  his  quiet,  unassuming  way  most 
faithfully  performed  every  military  duty,  and  finally 
won  special  distinction  by  his  recapture  of  Fort  Stead- 
man,  one  of  the  advance  defenses  of  Grant's  line  near 
Petersburg,  that  had  been  captured  in  a  gallant  dash 
made  by  General  Gordon. 

Hartranft  was  ordered  with  his  command  to  recon- 
noiter  and  ascertain  the  situation,  but  was  not  ordered 
to  attempt  to  carry  the  fort  by  assault.  His  men  had 
great  confidence  in  him  as  a  commander,  and  when 
they  moved  near  enough  to  reconnoiter  the  position 
Hartranft  simply  did  not  halt  his  soldiers,  and  by  a 
sudden  inspiration  they  rushed  in  upon  Steadman  and 
regained  it.  Hartranft 's  modesty  forbade  his  claiming 
any  special  credit  for  the  victory  that  really  made 
him  famous,  but  it  was  his  soldierly  training  of  the  com- 
mand that  made  the  recapture  of  Fort  Steadman 
possible  even  without  specific  orders.  He  thus  stood 
before  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  as  confessedly  the 


344 


Old  Time  Notes 


foremost  of  our  many  gallant  volunteer  officers  in  tlie 
State,  and  his  high  character  and  modest  personal 
qualities  made  him  a  favorite  with  all  who  knew  him. 
He  was  the  logical  candidate  of  the  party  for  Governor, 
and  he  was  nominated  practically  without  a  contest, 
with  Senator  Harrison  Allen,  of  Warren,  for  auditor 
general,  and  Lemuel  Todd,  Charles  Albright  and  Glenni 
W.  Scofield  for  Congressmen-at-Large,  and  twelve  candi- 
dates for  delegates-at-large  to  the  constitutional  con- 
vention, the  head  of  whom  was  William  M.  Meredith, 
of  Philadelphia. 

The  Democrats  appreciated  the  necessity  of  placing 
themselves  in  the  strongest  possible  position  before  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  believing  that  by  the  com- 
bination with  the  Liberals  they  could  win.  They 
nominated  ex-Senator  Charles  R.  Buckalew  for  Gov- 
ernor, who  was  confessedly  the  ablest  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic champions  in  the  State.  Wallace  was  then  in 
the  State  senate,  and  training  for  United  States  Sen- 
ator that  he  attained  two  years  later.  There  was  no 
factional  opposition  made  by  Wallace  or  any  of  his 
followers  against  Buckalew 's  nomination,  and  he  was 
presented  to  the  people  by  the  united  Democratic 
organization  of  the  State.  William  Hartley  was  nomi- 
nated for  auditor  general  and  James  H.  Hopkins, 
Richard  Vaux  and  Hendrick  B.  Wright  were  chosen 
as  candidates  for  Congressmen-at-Large,  with  twelve 
delegates-at-large  to  the  constitutional  convention 
headed  by  ex-Governor  Bigler.  Cameron  was  United 
States  Senator,  and  his  re-election  depended  upon 
carrying  a  Republican  Legislature  at  the  fall  election.. 

The  Liberal  Republicans  did  not  hold  a  State  con- 
vention, but  some  time  after  Governor  Curtin's  return 
from  Russia  the  Liberal  State  committee  nominated, 
him  as  delegate-at-large  to  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion, he  being  the  only  distinctive  Liberal  Republican 


Of  Pennsylvania 


345 


presented  for  a  State  office.  The  nomination  was  made 
after  a  full  conference  and  understanding  with  the 
Democratic  leaders.  Mr.  Randall,  as  chairman  of 
the  Democratic  State  committee,  and  I,  as  chairman 
of  the  Liberal  Republican  State  committee,  had 
repeated  conferences  on  the  subject,  and  after  it  had 
been  fully  considered  by  the  Democratic  leaders  they 
decided  that  if  the  Liberals  nominated  Curtin  as 
delegate-at-large  they  would  withdraw  one  of  their 
twelve  candidates  and  accept  Curtin  in  his  place, 
whereby  Curtin 's  election  would  be  absolutely  assured, 
as  each  voter  voted  for  twelve  delegates-at-large  to 
the  constitutional  convention,  and  the  twenty-four 
receiving  the  highest  votes  were  elected.  Governor 
Bigler,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Democratic  ticket, 
had  taken  very  active  part  in  bringing  about  the  nomi- 
nation of  Curtin,  assuming  that  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  making  a  vacancy  in  the  list  of  Democratic 
nominations.  After  Curtin 's  nomination  had  been 
made  by  the  Liberals,  however,  Bigler  found  that  all 
of  his  associates  were  very  reluctant  to  retire,  although 
a  number  of  them  were  willing  to  do  so  under  orders, 
and  Bigler  promptly  solved  the  problem  by  sending 
his  own  declination  to  the  Democratic  committee,  and 
Curtin  was  unanimously  nominated  in  his  stead. 

With  Curtin  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  the  Dem- 
ocrats supporting  the  Liberal  candidates  for  President 
and  Vice-President,  it  was  only  reasonable  for  the 
Liberals  of  Pennsylvania  to  accept  the  Democratic 
candidates  for  all  the  other  State  offices  and  the  Dem- 
ocratic electoral  ticket.  The  two  lines  of  battle  were 
thus  distinctly  drawn;  the  Democrats  and  Liberals 
on  one  side,  and  the  Republican  organization,  under  the 
immediate  command  of  Cameron,  on  the  other  side. 
Both  Democrats  and  Liberals  were  generally  embittered 
against  Cameron,  and  believing,  as  they  did  in  the  early 


346 


Old  Time  Notes 


part  of  the  campaign,  that  the}^  were  going  to  win 
aHke  in  State  and  Nation  by  a  large  majority,  they 
pressed  the  fight  most  aggressively,  and  Cameron  was 
severely  arraigned  from  the  stump  before  the  people  of 
the  State,  while  Hartranft's  alleged  complications  with 
the  Evans  swindle  and  with  Yerkes,  who  was  then  in 
prison  along  with  ex-Treasurer  Marcer  for  the  misuse 
of  city  funds,  brought  down  upon  him  a  floodtide  of 
merciless  criticism.  So  fierce  were  the  assaults  upon 
Hartranft,  Cameron  and  the  party  organization  that 
Mackey  and  Cameron  finally  yielded  and  called  a 
private  conference  of  a  number  of  the  leading  party 
men  of  the  State  to  decide  upon  withdrawing  Hart- 
ranft from  the  ticket.  I  speak  advisedly  when  I  say 
that  Hartranft's  name  would  have  been  withdrawn 
from  the  ticket  but  for  the  heroic  and  defiant  attitude 
assumed  at  that  meeting  by  J.  Donald  Cameron,  who 
had  then  become  quite  prominent  as  a  leader,  but  rarely 
participated  in  party  management  except  when  gi"ave 
emergencies  arose.  He  peremptorily  declared  that 
the  party  could  save  itself  only  by  assuming  the  aggres- 
sive and  standing  by  its  State  ticket.  While  a  majority 
of  those  in  the  conference  were  not  really  convinced 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  younger  Cameron's  policy, 
the  divided  judgment  of  the  coimselors  made  all  obey, 
and  from  that  time  Cameron  was  abreast  with  Mackey 
and  conducted  one  of  the  most  aggressive  campaigns 
ever  made  in  the  history  of  the  State. 

Governor  Geary  was  forced  to  pardon  Yerkes  and 
Marcer  some  time  before  the  election,  in  return  for 
which  they  furnished  statements  which  relieved  Hart- 
ranft from  any  guilty  complication  with  or  without 
personal  profit  in  the  Evans  swindle,  and  they  were 
only  just  in  doing  so.  The  pardon  reached  Philadel- 
phia about  noon,  and  the  chairman  of  the  State  com- 
mittee immediately  repaired  to  Cherry  Hill,  delivered 


of  Pennsylvania 


347 


the  pardon  and  brought  Yerkes  and  Marcer  back  to 
their  freedom.  In  the  meantime  the  business  interests 
of  the  coimtry  had  become  profoundly  disturbed  over 
the  possible  election  of  Greeley,  whose  financial  policy 
was  unknown,  and  who  was  regarded  as  impetuous 
and  visionary  without  the  well-balanced  qualities  of 
statesmanship.  Never  was  a  struggle  fought  more 
desperately  before  the  people  of  the  State,  and  the 
Republicans  of  Philadelphia,  under  the  registry  law, 
exhausted  their  power  to  increase  the  party  majority 
by  frauds  in  which  they  had  the  ripest  experience. 
"Nick"  English,  the  leader  of  the  ''lightning  cal- 
culators, "  presided  at  the  meeting  of  the  return  judges, 
when  it  was  known  that  Hartranft  was  elected  by  35,000 
majority.  He  knew  also  that  many  bets  had  been 
made  that  Hartranft  would  carry  Philadelphia  by 
20,000,  and  he  lacked  several  thousand  of  that  num- 
ber, but  English  solved  the  problem  by  simply  manip- 
ulating the  figures,  and  officially  certifying  a  majority 
for  Hartranft  in  the  city  of  over  20,000.  The  disas- 
trous defeat  of  Greeley  left  both  Democrats  and  Liberals 
without  heart  or  hope,  and  they  made  no  attempt  to 
bring  to  justice  those  who  had  been  guilty  of  the  most 
flagrant  frauds. 

With  the  Democratic-Liberal  combination  defeated 
by  nearly  40,000  at  the  October  election,  there  was 
simply  a  landslide  for  Grant  in  November,  when  he 
carried  the  State  over  Greeley  by  nearly  1 50,000.  Cam- 
eron had  not  only  a  large  Republican  majority  in  the 
Legislature,  but  for  the  first  time  he  had  almost  the 
solid  support  of  the  Republican  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives, and  his  re-election  to  the  Senate  was  accepted 
as  absolutely  assured. 

Such  a  campaign  naturally  brought  into  the  Legis- 
lature an  unusually  large  commercial  element,  and 
especially  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  the  mining 


348 


Old  Time  Notes 


regions.  Cameron  regarded  his  election  as  absolutely 
certain,  and  he  congratulated  himself  that  he  would 
be  able,  for  the  first  time,  to  command  the  nomina- 
tion of  his  party  without  a  struggle,  and  secure  his 
election  by  the  voluntary  votes  of  the  legislators.  He 
was  devoted  to  thrift,  and  never  expended  money  in 
politics  unless  the  necessity  was  imperious.  When 
the  commercial  men  of  the  Legislature  began  to  look 
over  the  field  they  saw  that  there  was  nothing  for  them 
in  the  Senatorial  fight,  and  after  a  number  of  con- 
ferences they  decided  to  appeal  to  the  ambition  of 
some  man  of  large  wealth  by  assuring  him  of  the  sup- 
port of  the  majority  of  the  Philadelphia  delegation. 
After  the  movement  had  been  thoroughly  matured 
the  proposition  was  made  to  the  elder  Charlemagne 
Tower,  a  man  of  large  wealth,  residing  in  the  anthra- 
cite region,  and  who  was  not  without  political  ambition, 
but  was  altogether  too  shrewd  to  be  robbed  in  a  hope- 
less contest.  He  never  gave  his  consent  to  the  propo- 
sition, but  apparently  held  it  under  advisement,  and 
Cameron  became  very  much  alarmed  at  the  new  peril 
that  confronted  him.  He  believed  that  the  Democrats 
and  the  few  Liberals  in  the  Legislature  would  gladly 
join  in  any  combination  to  defeat  his  re-election,  and 
with  the  majority  of  the  Philadelphia  delegation  ready 
to  deal  for  revolutionary  action  against  Cameron  he 
saw  that  he  might  become  involved  in  a  veiy  severe 
contest.  He  well  understood  what  the  Philadelphia 
movement  meant;  that  it  was  inspired  solely  by  the 
hope  that  he  would  give  a  large  amount  of  money  to 
have  them  abandon  it  and  fall  back  into  the  regular 
ranks,  but  while  he  could  not  afford  to  lose  the  Senator- 
ship,  he  was  quite  unwilling  to  win  it  at  a  high  cost  if 
it  could  be  avoided. 

I  had  been  active  in  the  fight  and  had  made  Cam- 
eronism  the  issue  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


349 


the  campaign,  but  my  personal  relations  with  Cam- 
eron in  all  our  many  bitter  conflicts  had  never  been 
strained,  and  I  was  not  greatly  surprised  when  I  called 
at  the  office  of  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott  in  response 
to  a  stmimons  from  him  to  find  Cameron  there  with  him, 
and  to  learn  that  I  had  been  sent  for  to  confer  with 
Cameron  and  Scott  on  the  Senatorial  question.  Cam- 
eron presented  the  question  with  entire  frankness; 
said  that  he  had  won  the  Legislature  and  his  election 
in  an  open  fight;  that  he  was  entitled  to  it  without 
being  forced  to  lavish  money  on  legislators  elected  in 
his  interest,  and  that  I  had  been  sent  for  to  inquire 
whether  I  intended  to  join  the  Philadelphia  black- 
mailers in  a  combination  to  defeat  him  for  Senator.  I 
told  him  that  I  could  not  vote  for  him  for  Senator,  but 
that  he  was  entitled  to  a  re-election  to  the  Senate  with- 
out debauching  the  Legislature,  and  that  if  a  corrupt 
combination  was  made  to  defeat  his  election  or  to  com- 
pel him  to  pay  blackmail  to  the  corruptionists  I  would 
openly  and  earnestly  oppose  any  such  movement  in 
the  Legislature.  Cameron  thanked  me  and  closed 
the  consideration  of  the  subject  by  remarking,  They 
can  go  to  hell  now." 

The  Senatorship  became  a  matter  of  public  discussion, 
and  in  an  interview  that  I  was  asked  to  give  I  stated 
distinctly  that  Cameron  for  the  first  time  in  his  life 
was  entitled  to  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  Legis- 
lature without  the  usual  debauchery  that  had  attended 
Senatorial  contests  in  the  State.  I  added  that  I  would 
oppose  his  election  by  any  and  every  honest  method, 
but  would  not  join  in  any  corrupt  combination  against 
him  for  the  benefit  of  Legislative  mercenaries.  The 
result  was  that  the  opposition  started  by  those  who 
expected  to  blackmail  Cameron  was  compelled  to  yield, 
and  Cameron  received  the  entire  vote  of  his  party  for 
re-election  to  the  Senate  without  the  cost  of  a  dollar 


Old  Time  Notes 


beyond  what  he  had  expended  in  the  campaign.  I  cast 
my  vote  in  the  senate  for  WiUiam  D.  Kelley. 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  January,  1873,  Gover- 
nor-elect Hartranft  proposed  to  come  to  my  room  one 
evening  to  confer  on  several  matters.  I  was  glad  to 
welcome  him,  for  I  knew  that  whatever  political  envi- 
ronment he  had  met  with  he  was  thoroughly  honest 
in  purpose  and  would  want  to  make  a  clean  and  cred- 
itable administration.  He  called  at  the  time  appointed 
and  said  that  he  desired  me  to  understand  his  position ; 
that  he  realized  the  fact  that  he  was  very  largely,  if 
not  wholly,  indebted  to  the  Cameron  organization  for 
his  election  and  that  he  did  not  mean  ever  to  be  justly 
charged  with  ingratitude,  but  he  added  that,  first  of 
all,  he  meant  to  make  a  thoroughly  clean,  straight- 
forward administration  of  the  State  government,  and 
as  I  had  yet  two  sessions  to  serve  in  the  senate  he 
hoped  that  he  would  be  able  to  command  not  only  my 
support  but  that  of  all  reasonable  Democrats.  He 
stated  distinctly  that  he  might  be  called  upon  at  times 
to  give  offense  to  those  who  might  assume  that  they 
owned  him,  but  if  necessary  he  would  give  offense  rather 
than  dishonor  himself,  and  it  is  due  to  the  memory  of 
Hartranft  to  say  that  he  faithfully  fulfilled  that  promise. 

On  several  occasions  during  his  two  terms  as  Governor 
he  was  urged  to  perform  more  than  questionable 
official  duties  to  serve  personal  or  partisan  interests 
at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  sense  of  right,  and  he  reso- 
lutely refused  to  obey.  During  the  two  sessions  of 
his  first  administration  I  never  had  occasion  to  criticise 
any  act  of  the  Governor  before  the  senate  and  generally 
gave  him  very  cordial  and  hearty  support.  Before 
leaving  me  at  the  private  conference  he  suggested  that 
if  I  could  see  my  way  clear  to  propose  the  increase  of 
the  salary  of  the  Governor  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  a 
year,  and  have  it  passed  before  his  inauguration,  it 


Of  Pennsylvania 


would  be  regarded  as  a  personal  favor.  I  told  him 
that  I  appreciated  the  fact  that  the  present  salary  for 
the  Governor  was  disgracefully  inadequate  and  .that 
I  woiild  gladly  take  the  responsibility  of  proposing 
the  measure  if  it  did  not  conflict  with  the  Constitution. 
I  soon  foimd  that  the  subject  had  been  quietly  dis- 
cussed by  leading  Republicans  and  Democrats  in  the 
senate,  all  of  whom  agreed  that  the  salary  should  be 
increased,  but  neither  party  wished  to  take  the  respon- 
sibility of  proposing  the  measure.  After  a  conference 
with  such  able  Democratic  lawyers  as  Wallace,  Dill  and 
others,  and  Strang,  Rutan  and  other  Republicans,  I 
found  that  nearly  or  quite  all  were  willing  to  support 
the  measure  if  their  particular  party  was  not  to  be 
responsible  for  it.  As  I  was  the  only  member  of  my 
own  party  in  the  senate  I  was  entirely  independent 
and  at  once  took  charge  of  the  bill.  The  Governor's 
salary  was  increased  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  before 
Hartranft  was  inaugurated.  I  did  not  regard  the 
question  as  entirely  free  from  doubt  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution,  but  it  was  a  case  in  which 
I  believed  that  doubt  should  be  resolved  in  favor  of 
common  justice. 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXIII. 

THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  1874  ADOPTED. 

Desperate  Efforts  Made  to  Defeat  Its  Approval  by  the  People — Mayor 
Stokley  Halts  a  Stupendous  Fraud  in  Philadelphia  When  It  Was 
Found  to  be  Unavailing — Earnest  Legislative  Work  to  Carry  Into 
Effect  the  New  Fundamental  Law — A  New  Liberal  Salary  Bill  for 
City  Offices  Vetoed  without  Benefit  to  Those  Who  Accomplished  It — 
Ballot  Reform  Accomplished,  and  Many  Machine  Leaders  Over- 
thrown. 

THE  political  conditions  in  Pennsylvania  in  1873 
aroused  the  Republican  reform  sentiment  of 
the  State  to  great  activity,  notwithstanding 
the  overwhelming  disaster  the  Liberals  had  suffered 
with  the  Democrats  when  Grant  carried  the  State  by 
nearly  140,000  the  year  before.  There  were  scores  of 
thousands  of  very  reluctant  votes  cast  for  Grant  by 
Republicans  who  were  sincerely  in  favor  of  reforming 
the  domination  of  the  party.  The  Republican  leaders, 
then  wholly  in  harmony  with  Cameron,  slated  Judge 
Paxson,  of  the  common  pleas  court  of  Philadelphia,  as 
a  candidate  for  supreme  judge.  There  were  no  pro- 
tests against  Paxson  either  as  to  his  character  or  ability 
for  the  high  office  of  supreme  judge,  but  the  fact  that 
he  was  the  predetermined  candidate  of  the  leaders  of 
the  organization  called  out  aggressive  hostility  to  him 
and  the  opposition  concentrated  in  support  of  Judge 
Butler,  of  Chester,  who  afterward  served  as  United 
States  district  judge  until  he  was  entitled  to  retirement 
by  reason  of  more  than  ten  years'  service  and  being  over 
seventy  years  of  age.  It  was  an  open,  strenuous  battle, 
not  against  Judge  Paxson  in  person,  but  against  the 
political  power  that  had  dictated  his  nomination  by 


of  Pennsylvania  353 

the  State  convention.  Mackey  was  State  treasurer 
and  general  political  manager  of  the  State.  The  State 
treasurer  was  to  be  elected  by  the  people  that  year  for 
the  first  time.  When  the  convention  met  Mackey  was 
amazed  to  discover  that  he  was  unable  to  force  the 
nomination  of  Paxson  over  Butler,  and  he  rescued  him- 
self and  his  organization  from  defeat  by  taking  Judge 
Isaac  G.  Gordon,  of  Fayette  County,  who  had  some 
personal  strength,  as  a  side  candidate,  and  with  the 
Paxson  vote  thrown  to  him  his  nomination  was  accom- 
plished. Mackey  was  nominated  for  State  treasurer 
without  opposition. 

At  the  time  the  convention  was  held  the  work  of  the 
constitutional  convention,  then  in  session,  had  not 
been  completed,  and  no  expression  was  given  on  the 
question  of  constitutional  reform.  The  Democrats 
exhibited  little  vigor  when  their  State  convention  met, 
as  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  year  before  seemed 
to  leave  the  party  in  an  utterly  hopeless  condition  in  the 
State,  but  as  the  reform  Republicans  developed  great 
activity,  not  only  in  the  battle  against  the  slated  can- 
didate for  supreme  judge,  but  in  the  support  of  the  new 
Constitution  after  it  had  been  completed,  the  Demo- 
crats were  somewhat  inspired  and  one  of  the  most  active 
off-year  contests  of  the  State  was  the  result. 

The  fight  for  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution 
became  the  absorbing  issue.  It  was  specially  offensive 
to  the  debauched  political  elements  of  the  State  be- 
cause it  destroyed  the  fee  system  that  was  a  source  of 
almost  unlimited  plunder  in  Philadelphia,  and  tore  up 
by  the  roots  the  registry  election  law  that  was  the 
parent  of  monstrous  frauds.  The  speculative  and 
mercenary  political  interests  of  the  State  were  naturally 
adverse  to  the  new  fundamental  law,  and  as  the  cam- 
paign nearer!  its  close  they  were  greatly  strengthened 
by  the  decision  delivered  by  the  supreme  court  setting 


2—23 


354 


Old  Time  Notes 


aside  the  method  of  holding  the  election  on  the  adoption 
of  the  new  Constitution  under  an  honest  election 
system  in  Philadelphia,  provided  by  the  convention 
itself.  The  decision  of  the  court,  delivered  by  Chief 
Justice  Agnew,  exhibited  an  unusual  degree  of  preju- 
dice against  the  general  reform  movement,  and,  while 
it  immediately  quickened  and  encouraged  the  worst 
political  elements  to  oppose  the  Constitution,  it  did 
much  more  to  arouse  the  reform  elements;  and  the 
court  was  so  fiercely  criticised  by  the  press  and  on  the 
stump  that  Chief  Justice  Agnew  felt  compelled,  in  jus- 
tice to  himself  and  the  court,  to  publish  a  letter  denying 
the  unfriendly  construction  that  had  been  put  upon 
the  dicta  that  figured  somewhat  prominently  in  the 
opinion,  and  declared  that,  notwithstanding  his  objec- 
tion to  some  important  features  of  the  new  Constitu- 
tion, he  would  vote  for  it.  This  letter  eliminated  the 
court  from  the  partisan  discussion  during  the  remainder 
of  the  campaign  and  greatly  encouraged  the  friends  of 
the  new  Constitution,  who  had  been  struggling  so 
tirelessly  and  earnestly  to  give  it  victory. 

The  most  dangerous  element  in  opposition  to  the 
new  Constitution  was  clearly  developed  only  a  few 
weeks  before  the  election.  It  was  a  combination  of 
prominent  corporation  interests  in  the  State  to  accom- 
plish the  rejection  of  the  new  fundamental  law.  This 
movement  became  plainly  visible,  as  able  representa- 
tives of  great  corporate  interests  took  the  stump  to  call 
upon  the  people  to  reject  the  work  of  the  convention. 
The  contest  was  regarded  as  fairly  doubtful,  as  it  was 
impossible  to  make  any  calculation  from  a  political 
standpoint  as  to  the  result  of  the  vote  for  the  Consti- 
tution. Never  in  the  history  of  Pennsylvania  elections 
were  such  strange  complications  presented  by  counties 
of  the  same  political  faith  and  apparently  sharing  the 
same  general  interests.    Adams  County  voted  four 


Of  Pennsylvania 


355 


to  one  against  it  and  Allegheny  ten  to  one  in  its  favor. 
Bedford  voted  three  to  one  in  favor  of  it,  and  Blair 
nearly  two  to  one  against  it.  Berks,  the  Democratic 
Gibraltar,  voted  four  to  one  against  it,  and  Columbia, 
another  Democratic  stronghold,  voted  four  to  one  in 
its  favor.  Dauphin  and  Lebanon,  both  strong  Re- 
publican counties,  voted  against  it  by  decided 
majorities,  and  Indiana,  a  county  two- thirds  Re- 
publican, voted  two  to  one  against,  while  Lancaster 
voted  two  to  one  in  favor.  Somerset,  a  strong  Re- 
publican county,  voted  three  to  one  against,  and  York, 
a  Democratic  stronghold,  voted  nearly  two  to  one  in 
favor. 

With  such  confused  conditions  throughout  the  State 
it  was  impossible  for  the  party  leaders  to  make  reason- 
ably safe  calculations  as  to  the  result  in  the  State,  and 
it  was  finally  decided  by  the  Philadelphia  party  leaders 
that  the  city  should  give  an  overwhelming  majority 
against  the  Constitution,  regardless  of  the  vote  cast. 
The  plan  was  conceived  by  those  who  held  the  city 
offices,  whose  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in 
illegal  fees  would  be  ended  by  the  new  fundamental 
law,  and  the  scheme  was  thoroughly  organized  in  all 
its  details  to  assure  a  return  of  not  less  than  50,000 
against  the  Constitution,  which  was  regarded  as  suffi- 
cient to  defeat  it.  I  do  not  speak  from  rumor  or  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  on  this  point,  as  tvv^o  of  the  men 
who  were  actively  engaged  in  the  movement  to  make 
the  false  return  in  Philadelphia  gave  me  the  full  details 
immediately  after  the  election. 

An  almost  tragic  incident  occurred  in  the  office  of 
Mayor  Stokley  on  election  night.  The  returns  from 
the  city  were  coming  in  precisely  according  to  arrange- 
ment, as  under  the  registry  law  there  was  no  limit  upon 
the  power  of  the  dominant  party  in  manufacturing 
returns,  but  soon  after  ten  o'clock  overwhelming  majori^ 


35^ 


Old  Time  Notes 


ties  in  favor  of  the  Constitution  came  in  from  leading 
counties  of  the  State,  and  it  became  evident  that 
50,000  majority  in  the  city  would  not  affect  the  result. 
A  number  of  the  city  leaders  were  in  the  mayor's 
office,  and  it  became  evident  that  the  Constitution 
would  be  adopted  regardless  of  the  frauds  in  Phila- 
delphia. Stokley,  who  was  nothing  if  not  heroic,  called 
the  boys  down  in  a  manner  much  more  emphatic  than 
elegant,  and  gave  peremptory  orders  that  the  Phila- 
delphia returns  should  be  corrected  and  returned  as 
the  vote  had  been  cast.  One  of  the  men  among  the 
most  active  in  the  work,  who  gave  me  the  information 
in  detail,  informed  me  that  while  they  had  no  difficulty 
in  carrying  out  the  fraud  to  return  a  large  majority 
against  the  Constitution,  the  most  difficult  task  they 
had  ever  been  called  upon  to  perform  was  that  of  chang- 
ing the  returns  to  make  them  appear  reasonably  honest, 
but  it  was  finally  accomplished,  and  the  official  vote 
as  returned  in  Philadelphia  was  two  to  one  in  favor  of 
the  Constitution,  giving  some  25,000  majority  for  it 
instead  of  50,000  against  it. 

The  majority  in  the  State  in  favor  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  was  145,150.  Mayor  Stokley  did 
not  attempt  to  conceal  the  action  he  had  taken  in  halt- 
ing those  who  were  engaged  in  making  a  fraudulent 
return  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  heartily  in  favor  of 
defeating  the  Constitution,  and  though  a  man  entirely 
free  from  venality  in  public  and  private  life,  he  believed 
that  in  politics  the  end  justifies  the  means,  and  when 
a  patent  fraud  was  about  to  be  played  without  accom- 
plishing any  substantial  result  beyond  the  disgrace  it 
brought  upon  the  actors,  he  publicly  declared  that  he 
and  his  administration  would  not  be  ''put  in  a  hole," 
and  was  peremptory  in  forcing  a  fairly  honest  return 
of  the  vote. 

The  earnest  and  somewhat  embittered  battle  on  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


357 


adoption  of  the  Constitution  overshadowed  the  contest 
for  State  treasurer  and  supreme  judge.  Gordon  was  a 
man  of  fair  attainments,  who  had  served  in  the  Legis- 
lature with  unusual  credit,  had  made  a  very  acceptable 
record  as  a  common  pleas  judge,  and  was  a  man  of 
unquestioned  integrity.  He  was  not  an  important 
political  factor,  and  he  simply  drifted  with  the  current, 
while  Mackey,  who  was  absolutely  in  charge  of  the 
organization,  managed  his  own  contest,  and  to  avoid 
accidents  was  careful  to  arrange  with  those  in  charge  of 
the  election  affairs  in  Philadelphia  to  give  him  an  in- 
creased majority  of  some  10,000  over  his  colleague  on 
the  State  ticket.  Under  the  registry  law,  that  was 
then  in  its  dying  agonies  with  the  advent  of  the  new 
Constitution,  it  was  not  only  possible,  but  easy  of 
accomplishment  if  the  proper  combinations  were  made 
and  the  necessary  cash  supplied.  The  result  was 
Mackey 's  election  by  25,000  majority  over  Hutchison, 
the  Democratic  candidate,  while  Judge  Gordon's 
majority  over  Judge  Ludlow,  of  Philadelphia,  was 
14,286.  Mackey 's  election  was  accomplished  solely, 
by  the  majority  in  Philadelphia,  as  Hutchison  had 
fifty-nine  majority  in  the  State  outside  of  the  city. 
The  Republicans  carried  both  branches  of  the  Legis- 
lature, the  senate  having  twenty  Republicans,  twelve 
Democrats  and  one  Liberal  Republican;  the  house 
forty-three  Democrats  and  fifty-seven  Republicans. 
The  adoption  of  the  Constitution  did  not  affect  the 
Legislature  chosen  that  year,  but  after  the  session  of 
1874  the  senate  was  increased  to  fifty  and  the  house  to 
over  200,  with  biennial  sessions. 

The  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  imposed  very 
important  and  responsible  duties  upon  the  Legislature 
that  sat  during  the  session  of  1874.  All  private  legis- 
lation was  practically  ended,  and  corporate  charters 
could  be  obtained  only  under  general  laws.    It  became 


358  Old  Time  Notes 


necessary  therefore  for  the  Legislature  to  enact  such 
general  laws  as  would  give  proper  encouragement  to 
the  varied  corporate  interests  of  the  State  and  to  the 
further  development  of  our  wealth  by  increased  cor- 
porate combinations,  and  it  was  necessary  also  to 
empower  the  courts  to  meet  the  countless  emergencies 
which  often  arose  and  called  for  private  legislation 
relating  to  matters  of  limited  and  local  interest. 

A  committe  of  twelve  was  created  in  the  senate, 
specially  charged  with  the  preparation  and  presentation 
of  the  bills  necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the  new  Con- 
stitution, in  which  Senator  Wallace  proved  himself  to 
be  a  master  legislator.  He  was  the  author  of  the  cor- 
porate system  then  inaugurated,  and  it  has  been  little 
changed  until  this  day.  It  was  necessary  also  to  dis- 
trict the  State  into  fifty  instead  of  thirty-three  sena- 
torial districts,  and  also  to  fashion  the  representative 
districts,  a  work  in  which  there  was  great  room  for 
partisan  strategy,  and  under  the  leadership  of  Mackey 
the  Republicans  got  away  with  about  all  there  was  in 
sight.  He  was  substantially  the  author  of  every 
apportionment  bill  that  was  passed,  and  fashioned  not 
only  the  senatorial  and  representative  districts,  but 
also  the  judicial  districts,  and  in  defining  what  districts 
should  elect  senators  for  two  years,  and  what  districts 
should  elect  for  four  years,  as  was  necessary  for  the 
following  elections,  he  fixed  the  heavy  Republican 
senatorial  districts  to  elect  in  Presidential  years,  while 
the  debatable  districts  were  left  for  the  off  year  when 
political  manipulation  was  much  more  easy  than  in 
the  white  heat  of  a  Presidential  struggle.  In  point  of 
fact,  while  Mackey  was  in  the  leadership  of  the  party 
organization  he  was  practically  the  Legislature,  for 
he  framed  or  revised  every  important  bill,  and  never 
suffered  a  defeat  in  his  own  political  household.  He 
possessed  the  important  quality  of  a  party  political 


Of  Pennsylvania 


359 


leader  that  is  seldom  found — that  is  the  ability  to  hold 
his  own  followers  in  solid  column,  and  divide  the  Demo- 
crats when  necessary  to  win  out.  His  influence  in  the 
Democratic  lines  was  not  so  much  with  the  commercial 
element  as  with  the  responsible  leadership  of  the  Demo- 
cratic organization.  While  he  and  Wallace  had  many 
desperate  political  tilts,  there  never  was  a  time  that 
either  would  not  help  the  other  if  he  could  do  so  with- 
out sacrificing  his  own  personal  or  political  interests. 

As  I  was  a  senator  during  the  session  of  1874  it  was 
natural  that  I  was  most  desirous  to  carry  into  full  effect 
the  reforms  of  the  Constitution  that  I  had  so  long  and 
earnestly  advocated.  I  knew  the  trouble  that  would 
arise  about  passing  a  salary  bill  for  the  Philadelphia 
offices.  It  was  an  open  secret  then  that  the  leading 
Row  offices,  as  they  were  then  called,  paid  the  incum- 
bent from  $50,000  to  $100,000  a  year,  depending  upon 
the  measure  of  unscrupulous  exaction  of  illegal  fees, 
and  not  only  those  in  office,  but  those  expecting  soon 
to  come  into  these  positions,  would  naturally  resist  the 
passage  of  a  salary  bill,  as  until  such  a  bill  Vv^as  passed 
by  the  Legislature  the  old  fee  system  would  remain. 
Colonel  Mann  was  then  district  attorney,  having  been 
elected  in  187 1  after  having  been  compelled  to  retire 
from  the  ticket  in  1868,  and  he  was  entirely  confident 
that  he  would  be  re-elected  in  the  fall  of  1874.  General 
Collis  was  city  solicitor  and  expected  to  be  re-elected. 
My  close  personal  relations  with  both  of  them  made  me 
feel  warranted  in  calling  them  into  conference  and  pro- 
posing that  they  should  assent  to  the  passage  of  a  very 
liberal  salary  bill,  as  was  required  by  the  Constitution. 
They  were  very  reluctant  about  assenting  to  it,  but 
after  several  conferences  they  finally  agreed  upon  a 
scale  of  salaries  for  the  different  officers  of  the  city 
ranging  just  about  as  the  salaries  are  now,  with  the 
exception  of  the  clerk  of  quarter  sessions,  that  was 


360  Old  Time  Notes 


made  $10,000  a  year,  and  I  framed  the  bill  in  accordance 
with  our  agreement,  and  passed  it  through  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature. 

It  was  before  the  Legislature  for  some  weeks,  and 
during  that  time  I  never  saw  an  indication  of  organized 
opposition  to  the  measure.  There  was  obvious  reluc- 
tance on  the  part  of  the  Philadelphians  who  trained 
with  the  organization,  but  they  accepted  the  situation 
and  permitted  the  measure  to  pass.  It  was  held  in 
the  house  and  not  passed  until  within  ten  days  of  the 
adjournment,  which  gave  the  Governor  the  right  to 
hold  the  bill  for  a  considerable  period.  Soon  after  the 
adjournment  it  was  whispered  that  the  bill  would  be 
vetoed  by  the  Governor,  and  that  in  addition  to  tech- 
nical objections  to  the  measure,  he  thought  the  salaries 
were  excessive,  as  none  of  the  city  offices  were  rated 
below  the  salary  of  the  Governor,  and  one  or  more 
exceeded  his.  Mann  and  Collis,  who  had  assented  to 
the  bill,  became  fully  satisfied  that  they  would  be  re- 
elected, and  that  if  re-elected  without  the  passage  of  a 
salary  bill  the  old  fee  system  would  remain  during  their 
entire  term,  as  the  Constitution  forbade  the  increase  or 
diminution  of  the  pay  of  public  officers  during  the  term 
for  which  they  were  elected.  They  earnestly  pressed 
the  Governor  to  veto  the  measure,  and  I  was  not 
greatly  surprised  one  morning  to  find  in  the  papers  the 
announcement  that  the  Governor  had  vetoed  the  salary 
bill.  The  result  was  that  Mann  was  nominated  for 
re-election  with  little  or  no  opposition,  but  was  defeated 
by  some  4,000  by  Furman  Sheppard  under  the  nev/ 
election  law  enforced  by  the  Constitution,  and  the  fee 
system  continued  for  three  years  in  the  district  attor- 
ney's office  for  the  benefit  of  Mann's  competitor. 
Collis  failed  to  obtain  a  nomination  for  another  term, 
and  his  successor  reaped  the  profits  he  had  hoped  to 
attain  by  the  defeat  of  the  salary  bill.    That  experi- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


361 


ment  cured  the  opposition  to  a  salary  bill,  and  the  next 
Legislature  enacted  one  that  was  substantially  a  copy 
of  the  measure  that  had  been  passed  and  vetoed  in 
1874. 

The  Constitution  tore  up  the  registry  law  by  the 
roots  and  the  last  election  held  under  it  was  the  Febru- 
ary election  of  1874,  when  a  mayor,  city  treasurer  and 
city  solicitor  were  chosen,  as  at  that  time  the  election 
officers  to  hold  future  elections  were  chosen,  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  registry  law  was  the  beginning  of  the 
end  of  the  Republican  domination  that  so  long  ruled 
in  Philadelphia.  The  defeat  of  Mann  for  district  attor- 
ney and  Ashe  for  coroner  in  1874  was  followed  by  the 
election  of  a  Democratic  sheriff  in  1876,  by  the  election 
of  a  Democratic  district  attorney  and  controller  in 
1877,  and  finally  by  the  election  of  a  Democratic  mayor. 
The  Committee  of  One  Hundred  came  into  power  and 
found  it  possible  to  enforce  something  approaching 
honest  elections,  and  they  thoroughly  revolutionized 
the  city.  It  was  the  best-directed  reform  miovement 
of  modem  times.  It  was  made  up  of  practical  business 
men,  who  understood  that  idealism  in  politics  was  good 
in  theory,  but  utterly  valueless  in  practice,  and  they 
not  only  defeated  the  notoriously  corrupt  machine  men 
of  the  city,  but  they  defeated  men  of  the  highest  stand- 
ing who  adhered  to  and  sustained  the  organization, 
thereby  giving  it  the  benefit  of  their  reputations.  Such 
men  as  James  Dobson,  the  elder  Reyburn,  men  whose 
integrity  none  could  question,  were  defeated  as  Repub- 
lican candidates  in  strong  Republican  wards,  solely 
because  they  tolerated  or  excused  the  profligate  and 
corrupt  measures  of  the  party  organization  to  which 
they  adhered.  During  that  season  of  reform  nearly 
every  important  office  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  from 
mayor  dow^n  was  filled  by  Democrats  or  Independent 
Reform  Republicans,  and  Democrats  were  thrice  elected 


362 


Old  Time  Notes 


to  the  important  office  of  controller,  who,  as  McMullen 
quaintly  but  expressively  said,  ''sits  on  the  chist." 

For  a  full  decade  the  Republican  leaders  were  under 
fair  notice  that  Machine  candidates  would  be  made  to 
bite  the  dust,  and  the  result  was  the  defeat  of  many 
candidates  of  questionable  character,  and  the  nomina- 
tion and  election  of  many  men  of  the  highest  character 
and  ability,  but  the  labor  of  the  reformer  is  a  thankless 
task.  It  is  all  work  and  no  pay  beyond  the  gratifi- 
cation of  having  performed  a  duty  to  the  public,  while 
the  work  of  the  partisan  who  makes  politics  a  trade 
and  lives  thereby  is  untiring.  Gradually,  as  the  reform 
veterans  retired  from  the  struggle,  the  Machine  men 
came  to  the  front,  but  it  was  many  years  before  they 
regained  the  power  to  pollute  the  ballot  box  and  to 
pollute  municipal  authority  to  an  extent  approaching 
that  which  had  been  common  before  the  adoption  of 
the  new  Constitution.  There  has  been  a  steady  battle 
for  and  against  a  thoroughly  honest  electoral  system, 
and  it  will  doubtless  continue  until  the  people  shall  be 
goaded  to  revolution  and  adopt  the  only  honest  method 
of  regulating  elections  by  requiring  every  voter  to  regis- 
ter and  making  the  official  ballot  one  that  compels  the 
voter  to  choose  each  individual  candidate  for  every 
office.  Until  that  shall  be  done  organized  and  corrupt 
political  power  will  always  be  able  to  debauch  the 
ballot,  differing  only  in  degree. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


363 


LXXXIV. 

THE  STOKLEY-McCLURE  MAYORALTY 
BATTLE. 

Formidable  Revolt  Against  Stokley's  Administration — The  Author 
Peremptorily  Declines  to  Become  a  Candidate  for  Mayor — James  S. 
Biddle  Nominated  by  the  Democrats,  but  soon  Thereafter  Declined 
— Democrats  and  Citizens  Nominate  the  Author  without  Consult- 
ing Him — His  Acceptance  Seemed  to  Be  an  Imperious  Necessity 
— Remarkable  Galaxy  of  Republican  Leaders  Who  Supported  Him 
— Interesting  Episodes  of  the  Campaign — The  Author  Advised 
Four  Days  before  the  Election  of  the  Majority  that  would  be 
Returned  Against  Him — Stokley  Returned  Elected  by  over  10,000 
Majority. 

THE  year  1874  was  a  revolutionary  period  in 
politics.  The  revolutionary  efforts  so  earn- 
estly and  fruitlessly  made  in  1872  gathered  a 
liberal  harvest  in  1874,  alike  in  city,  State  and  nation. 
For  the  first  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the 
Democrats  elected  a  majority  of  the  popular  branch 
of  Congress;  the  entire  Republican  State  ticket  was 
defeated  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Mann  and  Ashe,  Repub- 
lican candidates  for  district  attorney  and  coroner  in 
Philadelphia,  were  beaten  in  square  contests  by  Dem- 
ocratic competitors.  When  the  Greeley  campaign 
failed  so  disastrously  in  1872,  it  was  generally  assumed 
by  the  Republican  leaders,  and,  indeed,  confessed  by 
many  of  the  opposition,  that  only  new  conditions  could 
organize  a  successful  party  to  oppose  the  Republicans; 
but  the  reform  seeds  which  had  been  strewn  in  1872 
gradually  ripened,  and  brought  many  serious  disasters 
to  the  Republicans. 

It  was  a  year  of  unusual  political  interest  in  Pennsyl- 


3^4 


Old  Time  Notes 


vania,  as  one  of  the  most  desperate  political  struggles 
ever  witnessed  in  Philadelphia  was  precipitated  at 
the  February  election,  when  Mayor  Stokley  was  nomi- 
nated for  a  second  term.  Stokley  was  a  man  of  un- 
usually strong  mental  and  physical  force,  generally 
clear  in  judgment,  and  scrupulously  faithful  to  all  his 
personal  obligations  in  political  life,  and  always 
exhibited  a  measure  of  courage  that  commanded  the 
respect  of  friend  and  foe.  As  a  member  of  select 
council  he  had  championed  the  cause  of  a  paid  fire 
department  when  he  was  jeered  and  hissed  from  the 
lobby  of  the  council  chamber  by  volunteer  firemen,  and 
politicians,  as  a  rule,  feared  to  incur  the  displeasure  of 
that  powerful  political  and  often  riotous  element. 
In  politics  he  believed  that  all  was  fair  that  would 
obtain  the  desired  result,  but  in  all  his  official  relations 
he  never  was  accused  of  venality,  even  by  his  bitterest 
foes. 

He  was  a  man  of  unusually  strong  intellectual 
qualities,  with  little  opportunity  for  their  culture,  and 
while  his  political  record  as  mayor  w^as  often  open  to 
severe  and  just  criticism,  in  the  most  serious  trial  in 
which  the  city  had  been  placed  for  many  years,  in 
1877,  with  its  peace  fearfully  endangered,  he  proved 
to  be  pre-eminently  equipped  for  his  high  official  trust. 
He  had  long  been  ambitious  to  reach  the  office  of 
mayor,  but  had  met  with  repulse  after  repulse.  The 
Union  League  on  more  than  one  occasion  refused  his 
fellowship,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  business  men  of 
the  city  opposed  his  nomination  for  mayor  because 
they  felt  that  he  was  not  of  the  type  of  men  upon  whom 
the  highest  honors  of  the  city  had  been  conferred,  but 
Stokley  was  nothing  if  not  heroic,  and  he  persisted  in 
his  candidacy  until  1871,  when  it  was  found  necessary 
to  accept  him  to  avoid  repetition  of  the  Republican 
defeat  of  1868,  v/hen  Tyndale,  Republican,  was  de- 


of  Pennsylvania 


3^5 


featedby  Mayor  Fox,  and  he  was  elected  by  over  9,000 
majority. 

Stokley  believed  in  party  rule,  and  he  v/as  a  severe 
partisan  in  every  feature  of  his  official  acts  as  mayor 
of  the  city.  His  police  force  was  made  an  organized 
political  machine  and  subject  to  political  assessments 
whenever  needed,  and  all  the  power  of  the  city  govern- 
ment, so  far  as  he  had  control,  was  directed  to  serve 
political  interests.  He  was  trained  to  that  method  of 
public  and  private  action,  and  he  never  concealed  his 
contempt  for  all  who  attempted  to  enforce  non-partisan 
business  methods  in  municipal  administration.  He 
would  not  participate  in  the  profits  of  any  corrupt  abuse 
of  municipal  power,  but  when  political  interests  were 
to  be  served  by  contracts  to  favorites  at  excessive 
cost,  or  when  the  pollution  of  the  ballot  was  assumed 
by  the  party  leaders  to  be  a  necessity  to  assure  party 
success,  his  active  or  passive  approval  was  always 
ready.  He  believed  that  the  land  belonged  to  the 
saints  and  that  his  party  were  the  saints,  and  he  was 
always  ready  to  bend  official  power  to  promote  political 
schemes  which  commanded  his  favor.  Corruption 
ran  riot  in  some  of  the  important  departments  of  the 
city,  and  it  was  often  circumstantially  and  clearly 
exposed,  though  safe  from  executive  reproof  so  long 
as  it  served  poHtical  purposes,  but  with  the  general 
imrest  that  prevailed  throughout  the  city,  State  and 
nation  in  the  early  part  of  1874,  it  was  only  natural 
that  there  should  be  very  formidable  opposition  to 
Stokley 's  re-election  from  influential  men  within  his 
own  political  household. 

The  succeeding  mayoralty  term  was  to  cover  the 
Centennial  period,  and  anxiety  was  felt  by  prominent 
business  men  to  have  a  man  of  different  type  to  wel- 
come the  officials  and  people  of  the  world  to  our  great 
Centennial  Exposition,  but  Stokley  was  an  accom- 


366 


Old  Time  Notes 


plished  master,  and  absolutely  controlled  the  primaiy 
elections  of  his  party.  Earnestly  as  his  renomination 
was  opposed  by  many  prominent  Republicans,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  Centennial  term  without  serious 
opposition.  The  desire  was  general  among  that  class 
to  unite  on  a  Citizens'  ticket  for  the  several  municipal 
offices  in  co-operation  with  the  Democratic  organiza- 
tion, and  at  a  conference  held  between  prominent 
Democrats  and  prominent  Reform  Republicans  just 
before  the  meeting  of  the  Democratic  City  conven- 
tion they  were  unanimous  in  demanding  my  nomina- 
tion as  Stokley's  competitor.  A  committee  of  delegates 
from  the  Democratic  convention  called  upon  me  on 
the  morning  before  the  body  met,  and  informed  me  of 
their  purpose  to  nominate  rhe  for  mayor,  and  to  accept 
me  as  the  Citizens'  candidate  for  that  office.  I  told 
them  that  I  could  not  entertain  the  question  of  accept- 
ing the  nomination  or  the  office,  and  that  if  nominated 
by  the  convention  I  would  peremptorily  decline.  The 
strongest  personal  reasons  forbade  my  acceptance  of 
either  the  nomination  or  the  office.  I  was  bankrupt  in 
property,  having  been  made  so  by  the  destruction  of 
Chambersburg  during  the  war,  and  my  private  business 
interests  demanded  all  my  attention  and  care,  while 
the  hopelessly  ill  health  of  my  wife  made  it  impossible 
for  us  to  accept  the  exacting  social  duties  of  the  Cen- 
tennial year. 

The  committee  refused  to  accept  my  declination, 
and  I  then  wrote  a  letter  addressed  to  the  president  of 
the  convention,  stating  that  if  nominated  by  the  body 
I  would  certainly  decline.  This  letter  was  handed  to 
the  committee  with  instructions  to  have  it  read  in 
the  convention.  When  the  convention  reached  the 
question  of  nominating  a  candidate  for  mayor,  the 
letter  was  read  and  the  refusal  to  permit  the  use  of  my 
name  was  so  emj^hatic  that  it  was  not  presented  to 


of  Pennsylvania 


367 


the  convention,  and  James  S.  Biddle,  a  gentleman  of 
the  highest  character  and  accomphshed  attainments, 
was  unanimously  nominated. 

I  felt  greatly  relieved  when,  as  I  supposed,  I  was 
finally  eliminated  from  the  mayoralty  contest.  Clean 
and  accomplished  as  was  Mr.  Biddle,  the  reform  organ- 
ization of  the  city  failed  to  accept  him,  and  nominated 
William  E.  Littleton,  who  was  then  president  of  select 
council,  and  had  made  an  unusually  clean  record  as 
a  city  legislator.    This  action  was  a  serious  disappoint- 
ment to  Mr.  Biddle,  and  within  a  week  or  ten  days  he 
published  a  letter  declining  the  Democratic  nomina- 
tion for  mayor,  and  the  Democratic  convention  was 
reconvened  two  days  thereafter  to  select  a  successor. 
I  was  in  Harrisburg  attending  to  senatorial  duties 
when  the  convention  met,  happy  in  the  belief  that  I 
was  no  longer  thought  of  as  a  candidate  for  mayor, 
and  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  that  the  Democratic 
convention  had  nominated  me  as  the  Citizens'  candi- 
date and  adjourned  without  day.    The  same  evening  a 
call  was  issued  signed  by  a  number  of  leading  Repub- 
licans for  a  Citizens'  meeting  in  Horticultural  Hall, 
to  ratify  my  nomination  as  the  Citizens '  candidate  for 
mayor.    I  was  greatly  distressed  by  this  action  of  the 
convention  and  the  Citizens'  committee.    I  knew  how 
desperate  the  contest  would  be,  and  however  acceptable 
such  a  high  honor  from  the  people  of  Philadelphia 
would  have   been  under  ordinary   conditions,  the 
strongest  business,  personal  and  domestic  reasons  made 
me  most  anxious  to  escape  the  struggle.    I  returned 
from  Harrisburg  on  Friday  evening  and  met  a  number 
of  personal  friends  in  conference  to  whom  the  situa- 
tion was  frankly  presented,  but  while  they  admitted 
that  I  had  the  best  of  reasons  for  seeking  to  avoid 
the  contest,  they  insisted  that  it  was  no  longer  a  matter 
of  discretion  with  me,  and  that  I  must  respond  to  the 


368 


Old  Time  Notes 


call  that  had  been  made  upon  me.  I  reminded  them 
that  I  had  no  money  to  expend  in  the  contest,  that  on 
a  salary  of  $5,000  a  year  and  no  other  property  inter- 
ests but  debts,  I  certainly  could  not  maintain  the  hos- 
pitality that  was  expected  from  the  Centennial  mayor, 
and  one  of  the  gentlemen  present,  the  late  Allison 
White,  who  was  then  a  large  coal  operator  residing  in 
the  city,  stated  that  he  was  prepared  to  give  the  assur- 
ance on  his  own  responsibility  that  within  three  days 
an  ample  fund  would  be  subscribed  to  enable  me  to 
accept  the  position  of  Centennial  mayor  without  appre- 
hension of  financial  embarrassment,  and  before  the 
three  days  expired  he  exhibited  to  me  a  paper  signed 
by  ten  or  twelve  citizens  of  large  means  creating  a 
fund  of  $100,000  that  was  to  be  expended  by  a  com- 
mittee in  renting  and  furnishing  properly  a  house  for 
the  mayor  and  defraying  all  the  expenses  of  main- 
taining it,  and  $50,000  of  the  fund  was  to  be  appro- 
priated for  official  entertainments  during  the  Cen- 
tennial season.  Among  the  names  signed  to  that 
paper  with  Mr.  White's  were  those  of  J.  Edgar  Thomp- 
son, Thomas  A.  Scott,  William  Welsh,  John  P.  Veree, 
and  others. 

Amos  R.  Little,  a  retired  merchant  of  large  means 
and  great  earnestness  in  the  cause  of  reform,  became 
chairman  of  the  Citizens'  committee  to  conduct  the 
campaign,  and  by  the  time  that  the  immense  mass 
meeting  was  held  in  Horticultural  Hall  there  seemed  to 
be  no  choice  for  me  but  to  accept  the  battle  or  lie 
down  in  front  of  a  challenging  foe.  I  well  understood 
what  such  a  contest  meant.  I  knew  the  resources 
of  the  city  administration,  and  well  knew  how  unscrupu- 
lously and  desperately  those  means  were  to  be  employed 
to  the  uttermost.  I  did  not  doubt  that  the  battle 
could  be  won  if  the  integrity  of  the  ballot  could  be  pre- 
served, but  unfortunately  while  we  had  a  new  election 


Of  Pennsylvania 


law  that  imposed  severe  restraints  upon  many  features 
of  ballot  frauds,  the  registry  law  election  officers  yet 
lingered.  Although  the  law  had  been  repealed  by  the 
supreme  law  of  the  State,  the  election  officers  elected 
the  previous  year  remained  and  would  perform  their 
last  duties  under  the  registry  law  at  the  mayor's  elec- 
tion of  1874,  thus  giving  to  every  division  of  the  city 
an  election  board,  every  member  of  which  was  chosen 
by  the  Republican  party  leaders,  although  a  minority 
of  the  officers  were  nominally  Democratic.  In  the 
districts  where  frauds  could  not  be  safely  attempted, 
thoroughly  reputable  election  boards  were  appointed, 
but  in  all  the  divisions  where  fraud  was  possible  unscru- 
pulous Republicans  were  chosen  and  either  corrupt 
or  utterly  ignorant  Democrats. 

The  election  was  just  three  weeks  distant  when  I 
accepted  the  nomination,  and  certainly  the  most 
earnest  campaign  ever  witnessed  in  Philadelphia 
was  crowded  into  the  brief  period  between  that  time 
and  the  election.  Such  Republicans  as  the  venerable 
Horace  Binney,  who  cast  his  last  vote  at  that  election; 
ex-Mayor  Alexander  Henry,  William  Henry  Rawle, 
Henry  Armitt  Brown,  E.  Joy  Morris,  John  W.  Forney, 
William  Welsh,  John  P.  Veree,  John  J.  Ridgway,  Amos 
.R.  Little  and  many  others,  came  to  the  front,  and  most 
of  them  along  with  such  representative  Democrats  as 
George  W.  Biddle,  Daniel  Dougherty  and  others,  were 
heard  on  the  stump  every  night  during  the  campaign. 
It  was  a  battle  royal  from  start  to  finish,  and  I  spoke 
to  from  two  to  four  large  meetings  every  night.  The 
popular  wave  of  reform  was  unmistakable,  and  until 
within  four  days  of  the  election,  bets  were  freely 
offered  at  100  to  80  on  the  defeat  of  Stokley. 

In  that  contest  I  had  opportunity  to  learn  the 
ingenuity,  the  power  and  the  desperation  of  the  party 
organization  that  was  leading  the  fight  most  aggres- 


2 — 24 


370 


Old  Time  Notes 


sively  against  us.  Fortunately  I  had  thoroughly 
reliable  and  courageous  men  even  within  the  inner 
circle  of  the  consultations  of  our  opponents,  and  they 
never  were  permitted  to  surprise  us  by  any  of  their 
many  cleverly  conceived  plans  to  make  a  break  in 
the  tide  that  was  against  them.  A  captain  of  police, 
and  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  faithful  officers 
of  the  body,  had  been  my  sincere  friend  for  years,  as 
I  had  once  aided  him  in  attaining  a  profitable  position 
under  Governor  Curtin.  He  was  as  discreet  as  he  was 
faithful  to  his  friendships.  He  made  an  appointment 
to  meet  me  at  a  place  Vv/'here  notice  was  quite  improb- 
able, and  frankly  presented  the  situation  to  me,  and 
the  general  orders  under  which  the  police  were  acting. 
I  had  publicly  stated  whenever  the  subject  was  referred 
to  that  if  elected  mayor  no  competent  and  faithful 
policeman  would  be  removed  for  political  or  personal 
reasons. 

He  asked  me  to  authorize  him  to  give  that  assurance 
in  the  most  positive  manner  to  any  of  the  policemen 
who  might  be  employed  to  serve  him  in  his  desire  to 
render  service  to  me.  A  confidential  council  was  held 
in  the  office  of  the  mayor  every  day.  What  transpired 
there  was  made  known  to  this  captain  of  police,  and 
when  he  had  information  that  was  important  for  me. 
to  have  he  had  several  faithful  citizen  friends  who  were 
entrusted  with  the  mission  from  time  to  time,  and  I 
was  thus  kept  fully  advised  of  everything  that  was 
being  done  and  with  all  the  plans  made  for  future 
political  movements. 

At  one  of  these  meetings  an  apparent  countryman 
was  brought  in  by  one  of  the  police  who  was  unscrupu- 
lous in  his  efforts  to  serve  the  mayor,  and  the  country- 
man told  the  story  that  he  lived  in  Trenton,  that  he 
was  a  drover,  that  I  had  stopped  in  Trenton  overnight 
a  year  or  two  before,  engaged  him  and  others  in  a 


Of  Pennsylvania 


371 


game  of  cards  and  had  cheated  him  out  of  $1,700. 
When  I  state  that  I  had  never  stopped  in  Trenton  in 
my  hfe,  the  falsity  of  the  story  will  be  understood; 
but  it  was  decided  that  an  elaborate  affidavit  should  be 
drawn  setting  forth  my  whole  fraudulent  operations 
as  a  card  sharp  and  have  it  given  to  the  newspapers  on 
the  following  day.  In  the  several  speeches  I  delivered 
that  evening  I  stated  the  fact  that  a  man,  giving  his 
name,  had  been  employed  to  sign  such  an  affidavit; 
that  it  had  been  prepared  and  was  to  be  given  to  the 
public  on  the  following  day,  adding  that  I  had  never 
been  in  Trenton  in  my  life  excepting  to  pass  through 
it  in  a  train  of  cars.  This  premature  publicity  of  the 
invented  scandal  made  them  abandon  it,  but  when 
election  day  approached  they  found  it  necessary  to  do 
something  to  counteract  the  revolutionary  feeling 
that  prevailed  throughout  the  city,  and  it  was  delib- 
erately decided  at  a  political  council  in  the  mayor's 
office  that  certain  police  officers  who  understood  that 
sort  of  duty  should  be  detailed  to  New  York  and  others 
to  Baltimore  and  furnished  funds  to  bring  to  the  city 
a  few  days  before  the  election  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
toughs  who  were  trained  in  all  manner  of  ballot  frauds, 
to  scatter  over  the  city,  boisterously  hurrah  for  McClure 
until  Sunday  or  Monday  before  the  election,  when  a 
number  of  them  should  be  arrested  by  the  police  as 
professional  repeaters  and  be  let  off  when  confessing 
that  they  had  come  to  repeat  for  me,  but  would  abandon 
the  project  and  go  home.  Within  two  hours  after  that 
was  decided  upon  in  the  office  of  the  mayor,  I  was  fully 
informed  of  it,  and  that  night  in  several  speeches  the 
whole  programme  was  given  in  detail,  with  the  names 
of  the  policemen  who  had  been  chosen  at  the  council 
to  perform  the  duty.  As  the  whole  scheme  was  so 
circumstantially  given,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
attempt  the  execution  of  the  programme.    These  an- 


372 


Old  Time  Notes 


noiincements  naturally  caused  serious  trouble  in  the 
mayor's  confidential  council.  Somebody  was  evidently 
talking  out  of  school  and  suspicion  was  so  clearly 
directed  against  two  gentlemen  present,  who,  while 
very  sincerely  and  heartily  supporting  Stokley,  were 
known  to  be  in  friendly  personal  relations  with  me, 
that  they  retired  from  further  political  conferences  at 
the  mayor's  office. 

The  week  before  the  election  the  party  leaders  saw 
that  unless  the  tidal  wave  that  was  running  against 
them  could  be  halted  in  some  way  they  were  inevitably 
defeated,  and  they  sent  for  Quay  and  Mackey,  then 
the  two  ablest  party  leaders  of  the  State.  I  had  then, 
and  always  had  before  and  since  during  their  lives, 
close  personal  friendly  relations  with  both  of  them, 
although  often  compelled  to  lock  horns  with  them  in 
political  conflicts.  My  relations  with  Quay  were  more 
than  friendly,  indeed  they  had  been  relations  of  close 
intimacy  regardless  of  political  struggles.  Quay's  first 
act  when  he  came  to  Philadelphia  was  to  invite  me  to 
dine  with  him  alone,  and  I  promptly  accepted.  At 
the  dinner  the  whole  general  conditions  of  State  and 
city  were  discussed  in  the  frankest  way,  and  he  said 
that  the  most  unpleasant  duty  he  had  ever  been  called 
upon  to  perform  was  the  mission  that  he  was  then  on 
in  the  city  to  defeat  my  election  as  mayor.  I  sug- 
gested to  him  that  he  might  as  well  let  municipal  afi^airs 
alone  and  look  after  his  State,  but  Quay's  answer 
was:  "If  you're  elected,  where  the  hell  will  we  be?" 
I  told  him  that  my  election  might  seriously  interfere 
with  some  of  their  political  movements  in  Philadelphia, 
but  I  insisted  that  it  would  be  well  for  the  leaders  of 
the  party,  and  certainly  for  the  party,  to  adopt  methods 
for  its  direction  that  could  not  be  endangered  by  any 
honest  municipal  power,  but  the  suggestion  was  not 
received  by  Quay  with  any  degree  of  enthusiasm,  and 


Of  Pennsylvania 


373 


after  a  pleasant  dinner  and  chat  we  separated,  he 
repeating  the  expression  that  he  was  very  sorry  that 
it  was  necessary  for  them  to  accomphsh  my  defeat. 

Enormous  sums  of  money  were  collected  from  the 
police  and  city  officials,  with  large  contributions  de- 
manded from  business  men  actively  in  politics,  as  the 
campaign  became  fearfully  expensive.  Money  was 
lavishly  squandered  by  the  party  leaders  in  every  sec- 
tion of  the  city,  where  it  was  believed  that  money 
could  accomplish  political  results,  while  the  chief 
expense  on  our  side  was  the  employment  of  a  detective 
force,  and  perfecting  and  maintaining  complete  organi- 
zations in  every  division  of  the  city.  By  the  united 
action  of  the  Democrats  and  the  Citizens,  there  was 
no  lack  of  money  in  support  of  our  cause.  One  promi- 
nent citizen,  whose  official  position  was  such  that  he 
could  not  afford  to  be  suspected  of  contributing  to 
the  Citizens'  cause,  sent  a  friend  to  me  to  say  that  he  de- 
sired to  purchase  $10,000  worth  of  certain  bonds  which 
he  knew  were  in  my  possession,  and  which  were  then 
entirely  valueless  and  without  the  prospect  of  value, 
adding  that  if  I  would  deliver  them  to  the  person  a 
fair  price  would  be  paid  for  them.  I  sent  the  bonds, 
and  the  man  brought  back  to  me  a  sealed  envelope 
containing  ten  $1,000  bills.  The  cost  of  organizing 
the  entire  city,  obtaining  detectives  and  manning 
every  poll  with  the  proper  window  men  was  about 
$30,000,  all  of  which  was  contributed  by  a  small  circle 
of  citizens. 

On  Friday  night  before  the  election,  when  bets  were 
made  every  evening  in  the  Continental  Hotel,  usually 
at  100  to  80  in  favor  of  my  election,  I  received  a  mes- 
sage to  go  to  a  particular  room  in  a  private  house.  I 
immediately  obeyed  the  summons,  and  at  the  place 
stated  met  a  local  party  leader,  who  had  repeatedly 
given  me  important  information,  was  thoroughly  up 


374 


Old  Time  Notes 


in  all  that  was  being  done,  and  in  whose  fidelity  I  had 
absolute  confidence.  He  said  that  he  had  sent  for  me 
to  advise  me  to  go  and  stop  at  once  all  betting  on  my 
election;  that  to-morrow  bets  would  be  freely  offered 
even  on  my  defeat  by  10,000  majority,  and  that  all 
such  bets  would  be  won  by  my  opponents.  He  told 
me  that  it  mattered  not  what  vote  was  cast,  I  would 
certainly  be  returned  as  defeated  by  over  10,000.  I 
inquired  whether  it  was  to  be  done  chiefiy  by  repeaters, 
to  which  he  answered  that  he  could  not  explain  how  it 
was  to  be  done,  adding,  however,  that  the  few  thou- 
sand votes  put  in  by  repeaters  would  not  affect  the 
result.  On  the  contrary,  he  said  that  little  repeating 
would  be  done;  that  the  election  would  be  unusually 
quiet ;  that  there  would  be  no  attempt  to  rough  voters 
at  the  polls,  but  that  the  result  was  absolutely  pre- 
determined, and  that  the  majority  would  be  over 
10,000.  I  could  not  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  infor- 
mation given  me,  and  hastened  at  once  to  stop  all 
betting  on  the  election  as  far  as  could  be  accomplished, 
and  the  result  was  just  as  foreshadowed  by  my  friend. 

The  election  was  unusually  quiet,  and  my  friends 
believed  the  victory  clearly  won  because  of  the  absence 
of  desperate  and  violent  methods  at  the  polls,  but  the 
official  returns  gave  10,985  against  me.  It  was  not 
until  a  year  later  that  I  discovered  how  the  count  had 
been  accomplished.  The  ballot  boxes  of  the  city  were 
then  in  the  custody  of  the  city  authorities,  and  an  extra 
box  was  sent  out  to  the  divisions  which  could  be  safely 
manipulated  containing  a  given  number  of  tickets  for 
mayor.  Some  one  and  perhaps  more  of  the  election 
officers  understood  what  the  box  meant,  how  many 
tickets  were  in  it,  and  it  was  only  necessary  to  substi- 
tute that  box  for  the  one  in  which  the  tickets  had  been 
received  during  the  first  half  or  more  of  the  day,  and 
either  add  or  take  from  it  before  substituting  the 


of  Pennsylvania 


375 


number  of  tickets  necessary  to  make  it  correspond  with 
the  poll  list.  There  were  watchers  at  the  polls,  but 
the  elections  were  conducted  with  such  apparent  fair- 
ness, such  an  absence  of  repeaters  and  attempts  to 
rough  voters,  that  long  before  the  day  was  over  every 
watcher  was  entirely  satisfied  that  his  division  was 
square,  and  all  that  was  necessary  was  to  watch  an 
opportunity  when  he  was  off  guard  to  change  the  box. 
No  one  ever  informed  me  that  the  ballot  boxes  had  been 
thus  stuffed  and  exchanged,  but  the  man  who  gave 
me  the  information  before  the  election  that  was  fully 
verified  by  the  returns  often  spoke  of  the  matter  when 
we  met  in  a  casual  way,  but  never  would  explain  how 
it  had  been  done.  On  one  occasion  I  pressed  him  with 
unusual  earnestness  to  explain  to  me  for  my  own  satis- 
faction how  the  fraud  had  been  perpetrated,  and  he 
answered  by  saying  that  he  couldn't  tell  what  had  been 
done,  or  how  it  had  been  done,  but  added  that  if  he 
had  been  called  upon  to  meet  such  an  emergency  he 
would  have  done  it  in  the  manner  before  described. 
Thus  ended  the  most  desperate  struggle  ever  made 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  for  its  highest  trust.  On 
the  ticket  with  me  were  Charles  Henry  Jones  for  cit}^ 
solicitor,  and  Mr.  Peirce,  of  Peirce's  Business  College, 
for  city  treasurer,  both  of  whom  received  the  same 
blow  and  fell  in  the  race. 


376 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXV. 

BATTLE  FOR  THE  GREAT  EXPOSITION. 

Party  Leaders  Made  the  Issue  of  the  Republican  Centennial  Mayor  the 
Prominent  One  in  the  Contest — Democrats  in  the  Legislature  Pro- 
voked to  Hostile  Action  against  the  Centennial  Appropriation — 
A  Direct  Appropriation  Impossible — How  an  Apparent  Appropria- 
tion of  a  Million  Dollars  Had  Been  Passed  in  1873 — The  Desperate 
Struggle  to  Obtain  the  Million  Dollars  Needed — Finally  Saved  by 
the  Positive  Intervention  of  Colonel  Scott — The  Financial  Revul- 
sion Keenly  Felt  and  Private  Subscriptions  Retarded. 

IT  WILL  doubtless  surprise  most  of  the  intelli- 
gent citizens  at  the  present  time  when  it  is 
stated  that  it  required  a  very  desperate  strug- 
gle, with  a  large  measure  of  legislative  diplomacy, 
to  obtain  an  appropriation  from  the  State  for  the  Cen- 
tennial Exposition.  When  the  session  of  1873  opened 
the  Centennial  Exposition  was  only  three  years  distant, 
and  it  was  an  absolute  necessity  that  Pennsylvania 
should  contribute  at  least  $1,000,000,  with  quite  half 
that  amount  from  the  city  municipality,  to  assure  the 
success  of  the  great  enterprise.  John  Welsh,  probably 
the  most  influential  private  citizen  of  Philadelphia, 
and  one  of  the  ripest  of  our  business  men,  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  Centennial  enterprise,  and  he  in- 
formed me  before  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1873 
that  an  appropriation  of  a  million  dollars  must  be 
obtained  from  the  State  to  make  the  Exposition  in  any 
way  creditable  to  the  city. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  was  little  enthusiasm 
over  the  Exposition  throughout  the  State,  and  when 
the  Legislature  met  I  was  appalled  at  the  positive 
hostility  to  a  large  appropriation  in  both  branches,  and 


Of  Pennsylvania 


377 


nearly  equal  in  both  the  great  political  parties.  After 
thorough  conference  with  fellow  senators  and  the 
leaders  of  the  house,  it  was  clearly  evident  that  an 
appropriation  exceeding  $250,000  could  not  be  passed 
in  either  branch.  Mr.  Welsh  spent  several  days  at 
Harrisburg  with  me,  and  personally  understood  the 
situation.  He  returned  to  the  city  in  a  condition 
bordering  on  despair.  The  necessity  was  imperative 
for  favorable  legislation  promising  at  least  a  million 
dollars,  and  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  obtain  that 
by  any  direct  method.  Finally,  without  consulting 
anyone,  I  framed  a  bill,  the  first  section  of  which  made 
a  direct  appropriation  of  $1,000,000  to  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  but  it  was  followed  by  various  provisos. 
One  required  that  a  special  Centennial  fund  should  be 
created  for  the  State  treasury  by  taxes  levied  for  the 
special  purpose  to  cover  the  full  appropriation ;  another 
required  the  city  of  Philadelphia  to  make  an  appro- 
priation of  $500,000  to  the  Exposition,  and  another 
fixed  the  limit  of  $250,000  as  the  appropriation  from 
the  State,  in  case  a  special  Centennial  fund  should  not 
be  provided  by  special  taxes.  It  was  most  important 
to  obtain  a  direct  appropriation  of  a  million  dollars 
from  the  State  in  the  first  section  of  the  bill,  as  it  made 
a  landmark  for  further  legislation  in  the  event  of  the 
failure  of  the  conditions  attached. 

Another  section  of  the  bill  provided  for  a  special  tax 
of  three  per  cent,  upon  the  gross  receipts  of  the  passen- 
ger railways  of  Philadelphia,  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury 
and  to  constitute  the  Centennial  fund,  out  of  which 
the  million  appropriation  should  be  paid.  Such  a 
special  tax  was  certainly  of  doubtful  constitutionality, 
but  it  was  a  very  good  foil  to  disarm  a  considerable 
element  of  opposition  to  the  bill.  Another  section  of 
the  bill  provided  that  the  $1,000,000  appropriated  by 
the  State,  and  the  $500,000  to  be  appropriated  by  the 


378 


Old  Time  Notes 


city,  should  be  expended  on  a  memorial  hall,  to  be 
erected  in  a  suitable  place  in  the  park  and  to  remain 
after  the  Centennial  ended  as  a  permanent  place  for 
the  display  of  the  industrial  and  artistic  products  of 
the  Commonwealth.  A  number  of  the  most  distin- 
guished business  men  of  the  State,  headed  by  ex- 
Go  vemor  Bigler  and  Ario  Pardee,  were  named  as 
supervisors  to  construct  this  building  in  accord  with 
the  Centennial  authorities,  and  supervise  the  expendi- 
ture of  the  money  appropriated  by  the  city  and  State. 

Knowing  that  the  weak  point  was  its  special  tax  on 
the  gross  receipts  of  the  city  railways,  the  bill  was  first 
submitted  to  William  H.  Kemble,  who  was  then  the 
master  street  railway  man  of  the  city,  and  who  practi- 
cally dictated  the  general  policy  of  that  important 
interest.  The  street  railways  were  greatly  interested 
in  the  success  of  the  Exposition,  as  it  meant  a  rich 
harvest  for  them,  and  Kemble  promptly  agreed  not 
only  not  to  oppose  the  bill,  but  to  favor  its  passage  as 
the  only  \vay  by  which  an  appropriation  or  an  apparent 
appropriation  could  be  obtained.  He  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  forcing  the  street  railways  to  pay  special  taxes, 
and  said  they  were  prepared  to  meet  that  question  when 
it  came.  Kemble  heartily  co-operated  in  the  support 
of  the  measure,  and  his  action  doubtless  induced  many 
legislators  to  favor  the  bill,  believing  that  the  city 
passenger  railways  would  pay  the  entire  $1,000,000 
appropriation.  The  bill  was  also  submitted  to  Colonel 
Scott,  without  whose  cordial  support  it  could  not  have 
been  passed.  When  he  learned  that  Kemble  was 
entirely  willing  to  support  it  he  said  that  Kemble  tinder- 
stood  his  business,  as  the  city  railways  were  not  in  any 
serious  danger  of  special  taxation,  and  the  result  was 
that  the  bill  passed  both  branches  in  a  very  brief  period 
and  was  approved  by  the  Governor.  While  in  point 
of  fact  the  bill  simply  assured  an  actual  appropriation 


Of  Pennsylvania 


379 


of  $250,000,  it  was  generally  believed  that  at  the  next 
session  any  necessary  amendments  could  be  accom- 
plished to  assure  the  full  $1,000,000  from  the  State  in 
some  way,  and  the  city  authorities  hastened  to  make 
a  positive  appropriation  of  $500,000,  to  be  expended 
on  the  special  State  and  city  building  in  accordance 
with  the  act  of  Assembly. 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  1874  there  were  very 
confused  political  conditions,  and  the  Philadelphia 
mayorality  contest  added  greatly  to  partisan  disturb- 
ance on  the  Centennial  issue.  The  supporters  of 
Stokley  appealed  to  the  people  at  every  mass  meeting 
to  elect  a  Republican  mayor  for  the  safety  of  the  Cen- 
tennial, as  the  entire  State  and  National  authorities 
were  Republican,  and  the  success  of  the  Exposition 
would  be  greatly  impaired  by  my  election.  This  was 
not  simply  an  incidental  issue  of  the  contest,  but  it  was 
made  the  main  issue,  and  when  Stokley  was  returned 
as  re-elected  the  Democrats  generally  were  not  only 
very  greatly  chilled  in  their  support  of  the  Exposition, 
but  absolutely  driven  into  open  opposition.  No  move- 
ment had  been  made  in  the  Legislature  until  after  the 
mayorality  contest  was  over  to  revise  the  bill  making 
a  State  appropriation  to  the  Centennial,  and  when  I 
returned  to  the  senate,  after  three  weeks  of  campaign- 
ing, I  found  every  Democrat  in  the  senate  provoked  to 
positive  hostility  to  any  further  appropriation  to  the 
Exposition,  while  the  Republicans  were  nearly  evenly 
divided  for  and  against  it. 

My  position  in  the  senate  was  one  of  peculiar  delicacy 
and  responsibility.  If  I  failed  to  secure  the  direct 
appropriation  of  a  million  dollars  from  a  body  that 
was  then  certainly  two-thirds  hostile  to  it,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  escape  the  accusation  that 
political  disappointment  had  made  me  indifferent  to 
the  success  of  the  Centennial  and  false  to  senatorial 


38o 


Old  Time  Notes 


duties.  There  Vv^ere  a  number  of  unusually  able  Demo- 
crats in  the  body  at  the  time,  including  Wallace,  Dill, 
Yerkes,  and  others,  and  the  closest  friendly  relations 
existed  between  us,  while  on  the  other  side  were  men 
like  Strang,  Cooper  and  Rutan,  who  were  equally 
friendly,  personally,  and  all  of  them  broad  gauge,  liberal 
men.  The  first  move  made  was  a  conference  with  the 
leading  Democratic  senators,  to  whom  the  situation 
was  frankly  presented  in  confidence  and  the  position 
in  which  I  would  be  placed  if  the  appropriation  failed, 
however  faithfully  and  wisely  I  had  supported  it. 
They  held  the  matter  imder  advisement  for  some 
time  and  finally  agreed  that  they  would  support  the 
measure  chiefly  as  a  matter  of  justice  to  myself.  It 
was  generally  accepted  at  the  time  that  the  proposed 
special  tax  on  the  gross  receipts  of  the  passenger  rail- 
ways could  not  be  enforced  and  that  there  was  prac- 
tically no  special  Centennial  fund  to  be  in  the  treasury 
by  the  bill  enacted  the  previous  year.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  to  make  the  appropriation  of  a  million  dollars 
direct  to  the  Exposition,  but  the  shock  of  such  a  drain 
upon  the  treasury  was  somewhat  tempered  by  provid- 
ing that  it  should  be  paid  in  three  payments,  the  last 
to  be  made  on  the  4th  of  July,  1876. 

Elliott,  of  Philadelphia,  was  speaker  of  the  house,  and 
greatly  interested  in  the  Centennial  appropriation.  He 
was  a  man  of  unusal  force  and  rendered  a  most  im- 
portant service  in  bringing  the  house  into  the  support 
of  the  measure,  but  with  all  the  combined  power  that 
could  be  brought  to  favor  the  bill  at  Harrisburg,  it 
was  found  that  we  lacked  a  majority  of  votes  in  both 
house  and  senate.  We  struggled  along  for  several 
weeks,  and  found  it  impossible  to  marshal  a  majority 
in  support  of  the  Centennial.  S.  S.  Moon  had  long 
been  the  personal  representative  of  Colonel  Scott,  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  at  Harrisburg,  and  was,  of 


of  Pennsylvania 


course,  earnestly  co-operating  YAth.  the  friends  of  the 
measure.  He  understood  the  situation  better  than 
anybody  else.  He  not  only  knew  who  were  for  it 
and  who  against  it,  but  he  also  knew  who  might  be 
obtained  for  it  if  imperious  necessity  demanded  imusu- 
ally  persuasive  methods.  We  went  together  to  Colonel 
Scott,  and  presented  the  actual  condition  at  Harris- 
burg,  disclosing  the  fact  that  unless  special  and  im- 
portant support  could  be  brought  to  favor  the  appro- 
priation, it  must  certainly  fail.  Scott's  final  orders 
were  in  about  these  words:  "Well,  Moon,  see  that  the 
bill  is  passed;  the  Centennial  must  be  made  a  great 
success."  In  the  then  existing  conditions  at  Harris- 
burg  that  order  from  Colonel  Scott  meant  the  success 
of  the  bill,  but  the  opposition  fought  tirelessly  and 
desperately,  and  it  was  not  until  the  early  part  of  May 
that  the  bill  making  a  clean  appropriation  of  one  million 
to  the  Centennial  was  finally  enacted. 

The  opposition  managed  very  adroitly  to  amend  the 
original  bill  and  bring  the  two  houses  in  conflict,  result- 
ing in  a  committee  of  conference  that  finally  reported 
to  both  branches  the  bill  as  it  was  enacted.  It  was  in 
the  closing  days  of  the  session,  when  prompt  action  was 
necessary.  Just  when  the  measure  was  called  up  for 
final  action  in  the  senate,  and  some  member  of  the  body 
was  delivering  an  argument  against  it,  a  page  brought 
me  a  message  from  Moon,  stating  that  our  lines  were 
broken,  and  that  a  vote  must  not  be  permitted  until 
he  gave  a  signal  from  some  position  in  the  chamber 
where  I  could  see  him  distinctly,  by  dropping  his 
handkerchief  on  the  floor  in  an  apparently  accidental 
way.  The  debate  continued  for  half  an  hour  or  more, 
when  no  one  seemed  desirous  to  continue  it,  and  a  vote 
would  have  been  precipitated  had  not  the  debate  been 
renewed.  Having  had  no  signal  from  Moon,  I  was 
compelled  to  take  the  floor  and  to  speak  in  support  of 


382 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  measure  until  his  handkerchief  was  seen  to  drop. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  watch  Moon,  as  he  would  cer- 
tainly be  somewhere  in  plain  view  when  he  could  give 
the  signal,  and  I  was  compelled  to  speak  just  forty- 
three  minutes,  when  his  welcome  presence  appeared 
at  a  w^indow  in  clear  view,  and  he  immediately  drew 
a  white  handkerchief  from  his  pocket,  and,  after  wiping 
his  face,  dropped  it  on  the  floor.  The  speech  was  sud- 
denly rounded  out,  and  a  vote  taken  resulting  in  the 
final  passage  of  the  bill.  Where  or  how  our  line  had 
been  broken,  or  how  it  was  repaired,  was  never  inquired 
into,  but  Moon  saved  the  Centennial  appropriation. 

The  financial  revulsion  that  culminated  three  years 
later  in  an  eruption  of  anarchy  throughout  the  entire 
cotmtry,  had  its  beginning  in  1873  by  the  failure  of  the 
great  banking  house  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  It  was  not  the 
failure  of  that  house  that  caused  the  revulsion,  for  if 
it  had  been  able  to  maintain  itself  the  revulsion  would 
have  been  precipitated  by  some  other  failure  at  an 
early  day.  Jay  Cooke  had  no  apprehension  of  failure 
until  the  day  that  he  was  compelled  to  close  the  doors 
of  his  banking  house.  I  saw  him  in  his  office  the  day 
before  the  suspension  merry  as  a  cricket.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  genial  and  delightful  of  men,  always  look- 
ing on  the  bright  side,  and  within  twenty-four  hours 
of  his  failure  he  spoke  most  hopefully  of  business  and 
financial  conditions  generally.  He  had  undertaken 
to  finance  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  and  when  the 
excessive  tide  of  inflation  caused  by  the  war,  and  the 
immense  volume  of  currency,  worth  from  60  to  70 
cents  on  the  dollar,  began  its  ebb,  it  was  gradual,  but 
steady,  in  pinching  all  who  were  involved  in  financial 
operations,  and  especially  the  debtor  class.  Probably 
at  no  period  in  the  history  of  the  country  were  the  peo- 
ple so  largely  in  debt  as  they  were  in  1873.  'The  high 
prices  of  agricultural  products  made  farmers  increase 


of  Pennsylvania 


383 


their  lands  at  enormous  prices,  and  when  Uquidation 
came  m.any  of  them  found  that  their  assets  would  not 
realize  over  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  When  the  revul- 
sion began  in  1873  "the  impression  was  very  general 
that  it  was  only  a  temporary  break  in  the  general  tide 
of  prosperity,  but  thoughtful  business  men  understood 
the  conditions  better.  They  knew  that  the  people 
were  very  largely  in  debt,  and  many  of  them  unable 
to  pay  their  obligations,  which  would  stand  unchanged 
in  amount  against  them  while  their  assets  would  be 
greatly  diminished  in  value.  The  restrictive  condition 
was  sensibly  felt  in  1874,  and  it  increased  as  liquidation 
continued  through  1875-6,  and  culminated  in  the  most 
violent  financial  and  industrial  eruption  in  1877. 

The  country  has  never  appreciated  the  colossal 
service  rendered  to  the  government  during  the  Civil 
War  by  Jay  Cooke.  He  was  a  young  banker,  and  had 
not  been  brought  up  in  the  severe  banking  environ- 
ment that  obtained  in  the  Eastern  cities.  When  the 
financial  circles  had  practically  ceased  to  accept  the 
loans  of  the  government  Jay  Cooke  had  the  courage 
and  possessed  the  ability  to  teach  the  people  their 
opportunities  and  their  prerogatives  as  the  sovereign 
power  of  the  Republic.  He  made  his  appeal  to  the 
homes  of  the  land;  not  to  the  rich,  but  to  all  classes 
and  conditions,  and  taught  them  that  it  was  their  own 
government  they  were  called  upon  to  save,  and  that 
their  loans  were  substantially  loans  to  themselves. 
His  new  financial  methods  were  a  revelation  to  the  old- 
time  bankers,  and  they  were  astounded  at  the  success 
achieved  by  the  sale  of  the  loans  to  the  masses  of  the 
people  by  new  m.ethods  created  by  the  masterly  genius 
of  the  young  Ohio  banker.  From  the  time  that  he 
made  his  first  successful  sale  of  a  government  loan 
to  the  people,  the  problem  of  National  credit  was 
solved,  and  solved  by  Jay  Cooke.     Thereafter  the 


384 


Old  Time  Notes 


government  could  command  all  the  loans  needed  for 
the  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  the  financial  success 
of  the  administration,  in  the  face  of  most  appalling 
difficulties,  was  due  to  the  rare  financial  genius  and 
tireless  energy  of  Jay  Cooke. 

Private  subscriptions  to  the  Centennial  were  largely 
restricted  by  the  new  financial  conditions  of  1874-75- 
76,  and  the  fact  that  the  revulsion  was  felt  through- 
out the  entire  State  greatly  increased  the  difficulty  in 
obtaining  a  million  appropriation  from  the  Legislature 
in  aid  of  the  Centennial.  John  Welsh,  who  was  the 
financial  manager  of  the  Exposition,  had  a  most 
responsible  and  laborious  task,  but  he  was  a  man  always 
dominated  by  his  public  spirit  in  support  of  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  city,  and  he  labored  night  and  day, 
but  even  with  the  State  and  city  appropriations  he 
barely  escaped  financial  failure.  Public  meetings  were 
held  throughout  the  city  which  were  addressed  by  the 
ablest  of  our  orators  to  inspire  the  people  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  the  Exposition,  and  committees  were 
appointed  to  visit  and  personally  solicit  subscriptions. 
The  importunities  were  not  confined  to  people  of  wealth, 
but  all  classes  and  conditions  were  visited  and  urged  to 
contribute  according  to  their  means,  however  small. 

It  was  then  believed  that  the  Exposition  could  take 
in  sufficient  money  to  pay  all  the  expenses  and  fully 
reimburse  the  subscribers,  but  the  appropriation  made 
by  Congress  imfortunately  embraced  the  clause  making 
the  government  a  preferred  creditor,  and  as  the  receipts 
fell  far  below  what  was  originally  expected,  the  indi- 
vidual subscriptions  were  nearly  or  quite  a  total  loss. 
There  was  very  general  business  and  industrial  depres- 
sion during  the  Centennial  year  of  1876,  and  it  was 
very  severely  felt  in  the  receipts.  Scores  of  thousands 
throughout  the  country  who  would  have  visited  the 
Exposition  if  the  War  tidal  wave  of  prosperity  had  not 


Of  Pennsylvania 


38s 


been  checked  were  compelled  to  forego  the  pleasure  of 
personally  celebrating  the  Centennial  of  the  natal  day 
of  the  Republic,  but  the  general  management  of  the 
enterprise  made  exhaustive  and  well-considered  efforts 
to  bring  the  largest  possible  attendance.  John  Welsh, 
by  his  patriotic  devotion  and  tireless  efforts  to  promote 
the  Exposition,  rendered  a  service  to  the  city  and  State, 
that  was  known  only  to  the  few  who  aided  him  in  his 
exacting  labors,  and  has  never  been  justly  appreciated. 

The  politicians,  as  a  rule,  did  little  in  aid  of  the  Expo- 
sition enterprise.  Democratic  leaders  in  both  city  and 
State  were  disgusted  by  the  partisan  slough  into  which 
the  contest  for  the  Centennial  mayor  had  been  plunged 
by  the  Philadelphia  leaders,  and  the  very  men  who  had 
thus  alienated  a  large  element  of  contributors,  when 
they  had  won  out  at  the  February  election,  allowed 
the  Exposition  to  take  care  of  itself,  as  they  had  more 
than  enough  on  hand  to  keep  their  political  fences  in 
reasonable  repair.  The  subscriptions  from  business 
men  throughout  the  State  were  not  ten  per  cent,  of 
what  they  should  have  been  under  ordinary  good  con- 
ditions, and  the  contributions  were  as  a  rule  secured 
only  by  personal  visit  and  solicitation.  Had  the  busi- 
ness conditions  of  1874-75  been  as  favorable  as  they 
were  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  revulsion  of  1873, 
and  had  there  been  no  political  complications  to  chill 
the  ardor  of  the  Democrats,  fully  a  million  dollars 
more  could  have  been  obtained  by  the  Exposition 
management,  and  with  less  than  half  the  labor  required 
to  obtain  the  amount  actually  received. 

It  was  most  fortunate  that  the  Centennial  was  not 
delayed  a  year  later.  Had  1877  embraced  the  Cen- 
tennial anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
the  Exposition  would  have  been  a  colossal  failure. 
Labor  strikes  prevailed  throughout  the  country  from 
the  eastern  to  the  western  sea ;  labor  was  largely  unem- 


2— 25 


386 


Old  Time  Notes 


ployed  and  poorly  requited  when  empolyment  was  given, 
and  finally  a  period  of  actual  starvation  was  reached, 
and  an  eruption  of  anarchy  engulfed  all  the  great 
industrial  centers  of  the  land.  Even  the  great  trunk 
railways  were  in  possession  of  the  mob,  and  trains  ran 
only  as  the  mob  dictated.  Governor  Hartranft  was 
on  a  visit  to  the  Pacific  coast  when  the  eruption  came, 
and  when  he  started  to  come  home  to  make  an  earnest 
effort  to  maintain  the  peace  of  his  great  State,  he  found 
that  he  could  travel  only  by  permission  of  anarchy. 
The  leaders  of  the  revolutionists  were  wise  enough, 
however,  to  recognize  the  necessity  of  giving  the 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania  a  clear  passage  to  his  capital, 
and  when  both  commerce  and  travel  were  interrupted 
almost  to  a  standstill  the  train  bearing  the  Governor 
to  Harrisburg  was  handled  with  special  care,  and  every 
facility  afforded  for  his  speedy  and  safe  return  to  his  offi- 
cial duties.  In  Philadelphia  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
for  some  days  could  not  send  a  locomotive  out  of  its 
depot,  and  the  bravest  men  were  appalled  at  the 
possible  mastery  of  anarchy.  Had  the  Centennial 
Exposition  struck  such  a  year  the  receipts  would  not 
have  paid  operating  expenses. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


387 


LXXXVI. 

WALLACE  ELECTED  U.  S.  SENATOR. 

Republicans  Lose  the  State  at  the  First  Election  under  the  New  Con- 
stitution— Wallace  Carefully  Organized  the  Democrats,  and  had  a 
Large  Majority  of  Friends  in  the  Legislature — Nominated  for  United 
States  Senator  with  But  Few  Dissenting  Votes — Buckalew  Hostile 
to  Wallace,  and  Controlled  Enough  Votes  to  Defeat  Him — Buckalew's 
Attempt  to  Deal  with  Mackey — Mackey  Saves  Wallace. 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  triumph  of  the  Re- 
pubHcan  leaders  in  the  Philadelphia  mayor- 
alty contest  of  1874,  the  political  conditions 
of  both  city  and  State  were  very  unpromising  for  the 
Republicans.  The  registry  law  election  officers  had 
been  entirely  supplanted  at  the  February  election, 
and  the  usual  methods  of  controlling  majorities  in 
Philadelphia  could  no  longer  be  employed.  A  new 
political  factor  had  gradually  developed  in  the  city 
until  it  finally  became  a  fearful  millstone  on  the  neck 
of  the  Republican  organization.  It  was  known  as  the 
Pilgrim  Club,  organized  ostensibly  as  a  social  club, 
but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  m^embership  had 
been  carefully  chosen,  and  that  it  embraced  a  number 
of  prominent  Republicans  and  a  lesser  number  of  prom- 
inent Democrats  who  acted  unitedly  in  Philadelphia 
politics. 

Colonel  Mann  was  one  of  the  prominent  Republican 
members,  and  Lewis  C.  Cassidy  was  one  of  the  promi- 
nent Democratic  members,  and  with  Cassidy  were 
Samuel  Josephs,  Senator  Cochrane,  son-in-law  to 
Cassidy,  and  other  Democrats  who  were  ready  to  co- 
operate with  the  Pilgrim  organization  either  for  or 
against  their  own  respective  parties,  if  power  or  profit 


388 


Old  Time  Notes 


could  thereby  be  attained.  It  made  Cassidy,  Josephs, 
Cochrane  and  all  the  other  Democratic  members  of  the 
club  ardently  support  Stokley  in  the  contest  for 
mayor,  and  it  became  so  aggressive  that  it  finally 
assumed  to  dictate  the  nominations  of  both  parties. 
General  Bingham,  a  member  of  the  Pilgrim  Club,  was 
nominated  for  clerk  of  the  quarter  sessions  in  1875, 
but  the  hostility  aroused  against  the  variegated  political 
masters  of  the  club  made  the  Union  League  rebel,  and 
by  the  vote  of  its  own  members  it  rejected  Bingham  as 
a  candidate  after  his  nomination  had  been  made,  and 
he  narrowly  escaped  defeat.  In  the  contest  of  1874 
this  peculiar  organization  alienated  many  of  the  more 
intelligent  Republicans  from  the  dominant  power  of 
the  party,  and  throughout  the  State  the  Republican 
organization  lacked  vitality. 

There  was  an  imusually  large  State  ticket  to  be 
elected,  including  two  additional  supreme  judges  added 
to  that  court  by  the  new  Constitution,  but  the  people 
were  allowed  to  vote  for  only  one  candidate  for  judge, 
thus  assuring  the  election  of  the  Republican  and  Dem- 
ocratic candidates,  regardless  of  the  success  of  either 
party  in  the  State.  The  Republican  convention,  that 
was  practically  controlled  by  State  Treasurer  Mackey, 
with  Quay,  then  secretary  of  the  commonwealth,  as 
a  close  second,  nominated  Judge  Paxson,  of  Philadel- 
phia, for  the  supreme  bench,  with  Senator  Olmsted 
of  Potter,  for  lieutenant  governor.  Senator  Allen,  of 
Warren,  for  auditor  general,  and  General  Beath,  of 
Philadelphia,  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs.  The 
ticket  was  a  very  creditable  one,  as  Olmsted  was  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  respected  of  the  prominent  legis- 
lators of  the  State,  while  Allen  had  served  creditably 
in  both  branches,  and  Beath  was  one  of  our  most  gal- 
lant soldiers.  Paxson  had  long  been  on  the  common 
pleas  bench  of  Philadelphia,  and  was  recognized  as 


Of  Pennsylvania 


389 


one  of  the  foremost  of  our  Philadelphia  jurists.  The 
Democrats  nominated  Senator  Latta,  of  Westmore- 
land, for  lieutenant  governor,  Justus  F.  Temple,  a 
Greene  County  farmer,  for  auditor  general.  General 
McCandless,  of  Philadelphia,  for  secretary  of  internal 
affairs,  and  Warren  J.  Woodward,  of  Berks,  for  the 
supreme  court. 

In  Philadelphia  the  important  city  offices  of  district 
attorney  and  coroner  were  to  be  filled,  and  Colonel 
Mann  was  nominated  to  succeed  himself  as  district 
attorney,  and  Representative  Ashe  was  nominated 
for  coroner.  The  local  candidates  were  both  mem- 
bers of  the  Pilgrim  Club,  and  they  were  presented  by 
their  opponents  in  every  section  of  the  city  as  the  Pil- 
grim candidates.  Fur  man  Sheppard,  who  had  been 
defeated  by  Mann  three  years  before,  was  again  nomi- 
nated as  Mann's  competitor,  and  Dr.  Goddard  was 
made  the  Democratic  candidate  for  coroner. 

Mackey,  who  had  won  out  the  year  before  by  his 
majority  in  Philadelphia,  as  he  came  to  the  city  with 
fifty-nine  votes  against  him,  did  not  believe  it  possible 
that  the  Democrats  could  carry  the  State,  as  he  believed 
that  the  congressional  year,  with  an  unusually  im- 
portant State  ticket,  would  call  out  a  much  larger 
Republican  vote  than  he  had  received  in  1873.  The 
new  Legislature  to  be  chosen  was  the  first  to  conform 
to  the  new  constitutional  provision  enlarging  the  senate 
from  thirty  to  fifty,  and  the  house  to  about  two  hun- 
dred. A  United  States  Senator  was  to  be  chosen  by 
the  Legislature,  and  Mackey  gave  special  attention  to 
the  Legislative  districts,  but  Senator  Wallace,  alto- 
gether the  ablest  of  the  Democratic  organizers  of  his 
day,  saw  the  opportunity  to  carry  the  Legislature  and 
thus  win  the  United  States  Senatorship  for  himself. 
He  devoted  himself  and  his  well -organized  body  of  very 
devoted  friends  to  the  single  duty  of  looking  after  the 


390 


Old  Time  Notes 


Legislative  districts,  and  as  the  political  tide  proved 
to  be  in  his  favor,  he  won  out  handsomely,  carrying 
nine  Democratic  majority  on  joint  ballot.  Mackey 
found  his  majorities  for  the  State  ticket  very  generally 
lessened,  and  the  Democratic  candidates  came  to  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  with  nearly  18,000  majority. 
Philadelphia  gave  a  little  over  13,000  for  the  State 
ticket,  thus  enabling  the  State  Democratic  candidates 
to  win  out  by  over  4,000  majority.  Judge  Paxson 
had  a  majority  against  him  with  his  comrades  on  the 
State  ticket,  but  he  was  saved  as  the  minority  mem- 
ber of  the  supreme  judges. 

Not  only  did  the  Republicans  lose  their  entire  State 
ticket  and  the  majority  in  the  Legislature,  but  they 
suffered  severely  from  a  loss  of  Congressmen.  The 
delegation  elected  two  years  before  contained  five 
Democrats  and  twenty- two  Republicans,  while  the 
delegation  elected  in  1874  contained  seventeen  Dem- 
ocrats and  ten  Republicans.  Harmer  was  beaten  in  the 
Fifth  district,  in  Philadelphia;  Laporte  was  defeated 
by  Powell,  in  the  Bradford  district ;  Blair  was  defeated 
by  Riley,  in  the  Blair  district ;  Stenger  defeated  Wistar, 
in  the  Franklin  district;  Hopkins  defeated  Negley, 
in  one  of  the  Allegheny  districts,  and  Cochrane  defeated 
Bayne  in  the  other;  Jenks  defeated  Harry  White  in 
the  Armstrong  district,  and  Egbert  defeated  Curtis 
in  the  Erie  district.  It  was  a  Republican  Waterloo, 
and  was  a  most  marvelous  political  achievement  con- 
sidering that  the  victorious  party  was  beaten  in  the 
State  only  two  years  before  by  nearly  140,000  majority. 

The  term  of  John  Scott  was  about  to  expire  in  the 
Senate.  He  had  made  an  unusually  creditable  record 
as  Senator.  While  always  recognizing  just  obligations 
to  party  interests,  he  was  not  subject  to  orders  from 
party  leaders.  Had  the  Legislature  been  Republican, 
he  would  not  have  been  re-elected,  as  they  wanted  and 


Of  Pennsylvania         .  391 


greatly  needed  a  much  more  flexible  type  of  Senator. 
Mackey  and  Quay  decided  that,  as  a  Republican  could 
not  be  elected,  the  only  thing  they  could  do  was  to 
punish  Scott  for  having  been  a  faithful  Senator,  and 
they  refused  him  a  renomination,  which  was  only  an 
empty  honor,  beyond  an  expression  of  appreciation  of 
his  Senatorial  record.  While  he  cared  little  for  the 
ofhce,  and  was  probably  more  than  willing  to  retire, 
he  and  his  friends  were  greatly  mortified  at  the  Machine 
whip  that  was  plied  upon  him  to  make  him  retire  from 
the  Senate  without  even  the  empty  nomination  of  his 
party.  In  order  to  emphasize  the  lesson,  Quay  selected 
John  Allison,  an  ex- Congressman  from  his  own  town, 
to  whom  the  party  nomination  for  Senator  was  awarded. 

When  Scott  retired  from  the  Senate  he  was  soon  made 
the  general  solicitor  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company,  and  continued  in  that  responsible  position 
until  his  death.  No  man  in  the  public  service  left  a 
cleaner  record  than  did  John  Scott. 

As  Wallace  had  given  his  personal  attention  to  the 
nomination  and  election  of  Democratic  senators  and 
representatives,  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic legislators  were  in  favor  of  him  for  United  States 
Senator,  and  in  the  Democratic  caucus  he  was  nomi- 
nated by  more  than  a  three-fourths  vote,  but  some 
half  dozen  of  the  Democrats  were  devoted  followers  of 
Buckalew,  and  Buckalew  was  earnestly  disposed  to 
resent  the  humiliation  put  upon  him  by  Wallace,  when 
Buckalew 's  term  in  the  Senate  had  ended.  Instead 
of  according  to  Buckalew  the  empty  compliment  of 
a  nomination,  Wallace  took  it  himself,  intending  it 
to  be  an  intimation  to  the  Democrats  of  the  State  of 
his  purpose  to  contest  for  that  honor  in  the  future. 
Buckalew  felt  very  keenly  the  slight  that  was  put  upon 
him,  and  some  of  his  friends  were  ready  for  revolu- 
tionary action  against  Wallace.    I  was  at  Harris- 


392 


Old  Time  Notes 


btirg  when  the  contest  was  on  and  witnessed  the  inner 
movements  on  both  sides.  Buckalew  was  implacable 
in  his  opposition  to  Wallace,  and  believed  that  he  had 
the  power  to  defeat  him.  He  had  more  than  enough 
Democratic  votes  ready  to  follow  him  to  prevent  the 
election  of  Wallace,  but  he  knew  that  a  deadlock  would 
be  very  odious,  and  he  at  once  sought  to  make  terms 
with  Mackey  and  Quay. 

Buckalew 's  proposition  to  them  was  that  he  would 
allow  them  to  name  a  clean  Democratic  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator,  to  whom  the  entire  Republican 
vote  should  be  given,  and  Buckalew  would  give  him 
enough  Democrat  votes  to  assure  his  election,  but 
Buckalew  with  all  his  great  ability  had  little  knowledge 
of  the  inner  circles  of  Pennsylvania  politics.  He 
might  just  as  well  have  gone  to  Wallace  himself  to 
propose  a  deal  as  to  go  to  Mackey  and  Quay,  as  they 
were  friendly  to  Wallace,  and  they  meant  that  if  any 
Democrat  was  elected  it  must  be  Wallace.  Buckalew 
had  several  conferences  with  Mackey  and  Quay  and 
they  held  the  matter  under  advisement,  until  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  when  the  vote  was  to  be  taken  for  Senator, 
they  surprised  Buckalew  by  notifying  him  that  they 
would  not  take  the  responsibility  to  choose  between 
Democrats  for  the  position  of  Senator,  but  proposed 
that  they  would  cast  the  entire  Republican  vote  for 
any  Republican  that  Buckalew  might  name,  if  Bucka- 
lew would  join  to  secure  his  election.  Buckalew  then 
saw  that  he  was  really  in  the  Wallace  camp  when  con- 
ferring with  Mackey  and  Quay,  as  between  Democrats 
the  Republicans  could  readily  excuse  themselves  for 
choosing  the  man  they  preferred,  and  that  man  would 
certainly  have  been  Wallace,  who  had  many  personal 
friends  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  independent 
of  his  close  relations  with  the  Republican  leaders. 
Wallace,  of  course,  was  fully  advised  from  time  to  time 


Of  Pennsylvania 


393 


by  mewSsengers  from  Mackey  and  Quay  of  what  trans- 
pired between  them  and  Buckalew  and  was  entirely 
confident  that  the  RepubHcan  leaders  would  in  some 
way  end  the  contest  in  his  favor. 

When  Mackey  made  the  proposition  to  Buckalew  to 
elect  any  Republican  Senator  that  Buckalew  might 
name  and  gave  that  as  his  ultimatum,  Buckalew  sud- 
denly abandoned  the  fi^ht,  and  sent  word  directly  to 
Wallace  that  the  Buckalew  Democrats  would  vote 
for  him.  I  was  in  Wallace's  room  at  the  Bolton  House 
when  the  Buckalew  message  was  received  by  Wallace. 
The  fight  was  thus  ended,  as  Wallace  was  elected  in  the 
joint  convention,  practically  without  a  struggle,  and 
Buckalew  retired  rather  more  disgusted  with  the  play 
that  Mackey  and  Quay  had  made  upon  him  than  be- 
cause of  the  success  of  Wallace,  and  he  never  thereafter 
attempted  to  make  himself  felt  as  a  factor  in  State 
politics.  He  was  later  twice  elected  to  Congress,  but 
roimded  out  a  career  of  rare  distinction  and  usefulness 
by  a  humiliating  defeat  for  another  term  in  Congress, 
in  the  strongest  Democratic  district  in  the  State  out- 
side of  Berks.  He  struck  the  fearful  revolutionary 
tide  of  1884,  when  the  State  voted  nearly  two  to  one 
Republican. 

Wallace  was  the  last  Democratic  Senator  from  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  Legislature  that  elected  him  was  the 
last  Pennsylvania  Legislature  with  a  Democratic  major- 
ity on  joint  ballot.  Even  in  the  revolutionary  sweep 
of  1877,  when  the  Democrats  elected  their  State  ticket 
by  a  larger  majority  than  they  attained  in  1874,  they 
failed  to  carry  a  majority  of  the  Legislature.  Thus 
for  thirty  years  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  has  been 
uniformly  Republican.  When  Wallace  resigned  his 
seat  in  the  State  senate  to  assume  his  Senatorial  duties 
at  Washington,  Dr.  Boyer,  of  Clearfield,  who  had  been 
involved  in  the  Senatorial  scandal  when  Buckalew 


394 


Old  Time  Notes 


defeated  Cameron  in  1863,  was  elected  to  serve  Wal- 
lace's unexpired  term. 

When  Wallace  became  United  States  Senator  he 
rapidly  developed  as  a  political  organizer  of  the  Senate, 
and  in  a  very  short  time  was  formally  recognized  as 
the  Democratic  manager  of  the  body.  He  was  a  most 
adroit  politician,  and  as  able  in  shaping  the  party  policy 
in  the  United  States  Senate  as  he  was  in  organizing 
his  party  forces  in  the  State,  and  he  regarded  his  nomi- 
nation and  election  to  the  Presidency  as  altogether 
within  the  range  of  possibility.  That  was  Wallace's 
chief  error,  as  from  the  time  he  became  a  candidate 
for  President  he  greatly  impaired  his  own  powers  as  a 
party  leader.  Randall  had  been  in  the  House  for  a 
dozen  years,  and  was  a  candidate  for  speaker  when 
Wallace  became  Senator.  Instead  of  heartily  support- 
ing Randall,  as  was  his  true  policy,  he  assumed  that  it 
would  endanger  his  own  prospects  if  Randall  became 
speaker  of  the  House,  as  he  knew  that  Randall  looked 
to  the  Presidency  as  a  possible  achievement.  Wallace 
threw  himself  openly  and  aggressively  into  the  fight 
against  Randall,  and  was  successful  in  defeating  him 
by  the  nomination  of  Ker,  of  Indiana.  Ker  was 
elected,  but  died  within  a  year,  and  Randall  then 
became  speaker  without  a  serious  contest.  Wallace 
saw  that  Randall  could  not  be  defeated,  and  permitted 
the  nomination  to  go  by  default. 

That  was  the  beginning  of  an  estrangement  between 
Wallace  and  Randall  that  continued  as  long  as  they 
were  actively  in  politics.  I  cannot  recall  a  single 
political  movement  in  the  State  thereafter  in  which 
they  cordially  co-operated,  and  Wallace's  last  battle 
was  fought  at  Scranton  for  the  nomination  for  Gov- 
ernor only  a  few  months  after  Randall's  death.  New 
forces  and  new  conditions  had  arisen  such  as  confront 
every  political  leader  after  the  long  exercise  of  power, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


395 


and  he  was  defeated  by  a  convention  in  v/hich  a  major- 
ity of  the  delegates  were  of  Wallace's  old-time  follow- 
ing, but  the  granger  element  had  becom.e  very  aggres- 
sive, and  the  "hayseed"  influence  dominated  the  con- 
vention, and  made  Wallace  an  impossible  candidate. 
Soon  thereafter  his  financial  failure  was  announced, 
resulting  from  heavy  investments  made  in  timber 
lands  and  other  Western  property,  most  of  which 
became  valuable  after  some  years,  but  not  in  time  to 
save  Wallace  from  bankruptcy.  The  last  few  years 
of  his  life  he  spent  chiefly  in  New  York  city,  struggling 
from  day  to  day  to  hold  his  property  and  rescue  him- 
self from  his  serious  financial  troubles.  His  political 
power,  once  so  omnipotent  in  the  State,  had  entirely 
passed  away,  fickle  fortune  had  deserted  him,  and 
after  a  long  and  wearing  struggle  to  retrieve  his  con- 
dition, the  silver  cord  was  loosed  by  fretting  anxiety 
and  the  once  great  leader  was  borne  to  the  City  of  the 
Silent  at  his  mountain  home. 

The  defeat  of  the  Republican  State  ticket,  and  the 
loss  of  Republican  control  in  the  Legislature  were 
appalling  results  to  Mackey  and  Quay,  and  when  they 
looked  over  the  other  States  they  found  little  to  encour- 
age them.  Governor  Hartranft  would  come  up  for 
re-election  the  following  year,  and  they  appreciated 
the  necessity  for  most  extraordinary  efforts  to  restore 
Republican  supremacy  in  the  State.  The  elections 
of  1874  v/ere  a  regular  Democratic  tidal  wave,  as  they 
elected  Democratic  Governors  in  Massachusetts,  New^ 
Hampshire  and  Connecticut;  the  Democratic  Gover- 
nor in  New  York  by  over  50,000,  and  Governor  Beadle, 
Democrat,  was  elected  by  a  large  majority  in  New 
Jersey.  Ohio  had  elected  a  Democratic  Governor 
the  year  before,  and  elected  the  Democratic  State 
ticket  that  year  by  an  increased  majority.  Indiana 
had  also  given  a  large  Democratic  majority,  and  the 


396 


Old  Time  Notes 


Republicans  elected  a  State  officer  in  Illinois  only  by- 
division  among  the  Democrats.  The  Democrats  elected 
a  large  majority  of  the  popular  branch  of  Congress 
for  the  first  time  since  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  Mackey  and  Quay  fully  appreciated  the  serious 
political  conditions  which  confronted  them. 

They  at  once  directed  their  efforts  to  making  a  com- 
plete organization  throughout  the  State  for  the  re- 
election of  Governor  Hartranft,  and  it  was  carried  to 
the  extent  of  a  positive  contract  made  with  the  leaders 
of  the  Molly  Maguires  in  Schuylkill  County,  by  which 
the  protection  of  the  Governor  was  promised  them  if 
they  would  support  the  Republican  ticket. 

It  is  due  to  Governor  Hartranft  to  say  that  he  had 
no  knowledge  of  this  compact  at  the  time,  and  did  not 
know  of  it  until  some  time  after  his  re-election,  if  he 
ever  knew  of  it,  when  Jack  Kehoe,  who  had  made  the 
contract  on  the  part  of  the  Molly  Maguires,  had  been 
convicted  of  murder  in  the  first  degree  along  with  a 
number  of  his  associates,  and  was  in  prison  awaiting 
the  death  warrant  of  the  Governor.  Exhaustive 
efforts  were  made  on  the  part  of  Mackey  and  others  to 
save  the  life  of  Kehoe,  but  Hartranft  yielded  to  these 
importunities  only  to  the  extent  of  delaying  the  execu- 
tion for  an  unusual  period.  The  political  compact 
with  the  Molly  Maguires  had  been  publicly  discussed 
during  the  campaign,  and  the  delay  in  the  execution 
of  Kehoe  finally  brought  out  the  most  emphatic  de- 
mand, not  only  from  the  Democratic  journals  of  the 
State,  but  from  many  of  the  leading  Republican  organs, 
for  the  prompt  issue  of  the  death  warrant.  Whether 
Hartranft  was  ever  advised  of  the  compact  that  had 
been  made  for  the  protection  of  Kehoe  and  others  is 
now  uncertain,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that,  however 
he  may  have  temporized  the  delay,  he  was  incapable 
of  such  a  flagrant  disregard  of  his  official  duty  as  to 


Of  Pennsylvania 


397 


protect  the  lives  of  men  who  had  in  cold  blood  delib- 
erately planned  and  executed  many  murders  without 
provocation.  It  was  expected  that  Kehoe  would  make 
a  statement  when  he  appeared  on  the  fatal  platform 
for  execution,  but  he  understood  the  situation,  and  the 
men  who  had  made  the  compact  with  him  were  de- 
lighted to  be  able  to  say  that  he  died  game. 

Mackey  and  Quay  were  tireless  in  their  efforts  to 
rehabilitate  the  party  organization  to  enable  it  to  win 
the  following  year  by  the  re-election  of  Hartranft  and 
to  regain  the  control  of  the  Legislature.  They  took 
every  legislative  district  in  hand,  gave  personal  atten- 
tion to  the  nomination  of  candidates  wherever  a  con- 
test was  probable,  contributed  freely  to  aid  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  available  men,  and  in  doubtful  districts 
money  was  liberally  supplied  to  aid  the  Republican 
nominees.  Live  party  organizations  were  made  in 
every  election  district  in  the  State,  and  long  before  the 
campaign  opened,  or  the  State  nominations  were  made, 
and  the  result  was  that  by  the  time  the  State  conven- 
tion met  they  had  the  party  in  the  best  possible  shape, 
and  recovered  the  State  by  a  small  majority  with  the 
control  of  both  branches  of  the  Legislature.  It  was 
the  work  of  these  two  men  at  the  opening  of  the  year 
1875  ^^^^  made  the  re-election  of  Hartranft  possible. 
They  were  working  day  and  night  when  the  Democratic 
leaders  were  at  rest,  and  it  was  organization  alone 
that  saved  Governor  Hartranft  in  the  contest  of  1875. 


398 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXVII. 
THE  PHILADELPHIA  "TIMES." 

The  Author  First  Purchased  the  Press  from  Colonel  Forney — Contract 
Revoked — How  the  Times  Was  Founded — Personal  Friends  Take  a 
Fourth  Interest  for  the  Author — Collins  Gives  Instructions  to  the 
Editor — Final  Success  of  the  Newspaper — How  the  Original  Part- 
ners Protected  Collins  in  His  Misfortune — Independent  Journalism 
a  Surprise  to  Philadelphia — Liberal  Return  to  the  Stockholders  of 
the  Newspaper — Personal  Relations  of  the  Author  with  Political 
Leaders. 

THE  year  1875  dated  a  very  important  and  far- 
reaching  revolution  in  Philadelphia  journal- 
ism. The  long-maintained  rule  of  political 
Machine  leaders  in  Philadelphia,  with  the  vast  patron- 
age they  possessed  for  the  newspapers,  which  they 
steadily  increased  by  legislation,  and  the  prompt  con- 
victions and  severe  punishm.ent  for  libel,  had  gradually 
stripped  Philadelphia  journalism  of  the  essential 
attribute  of  manly  independence.  The  ''Ledger"  was 
beyond  the  control  of  political  power,  but  it  was 
severely  neutral,  and  maintained  its  wonderful  pros- 
perity by  rarely  giving  offense.  Political  leaders  did 
not  hesitate  to  proclaim  their  general  mastery  over 
the  newspapers  of  the  city,  and  it  was  not  imcommon 
for  them  to  call  upon  editors,  dictate  a  policy,  and 
openly  declare  to  their  associates  that  the  newspaper 
was  ''fixed." 

Colonel  Forney  had  quickened  Philadelphia  journal- 
ism in  some  measure  by  the  advent  of  "The  Press"  in 
1857,  and  the  heroic  and  masterly  battle  he  fought 
against  the  policy  of  the  Buchanan  administration, 
but  after  his  great  work  was  accomplished,  and  he 


of  Pennsylvania 


399 


became  the  recipient  of  official  favors,  the  aggressive 
independence  of  the  paper  gradually  lessened  until  it 
was  finally  classed  with  the  dependent  organs.  The 
repeated  struggles  in  the  city,  started  by  the  senatorial 
contest  of  1872,  and  culminating  in  the  mayoralty 
contest  of  1874,  created  a  profound  reform  sentiment, 
not  only  throughout  the  city,  but  generally  throughout 
the  State,  as  was  clearly  exhibited  by  the  defeat  of  the 
entire  Republican  State  and  city  ticket  in  1874.  There 
was  no  public  journal  in  Philadelphia  to  give  expression 
to  the  reform  sentiment  and  organize  it  to  effective 
action.  Colonel  Forney  was  then  in  Europe,  and  his 
great  newspaper  had  steadily  gravitated  downward 
tmtil  it  had  little  influence  and  as  little  profit. 

Without  consulting  any  one  but  Governor  Curtin,  I 
decided  to  make  a  proposition  to  Forney  for  the  pur- 
chase of  ''The  Press,"  and  wrote  out  an  agreement  of 
sale  whereby  he  would  have  received  $300,000  for  the 
machinery,  fixtures  and  good  will  of  the  paper.  By 
the  terms  of  the  agreement  he  would  have  received 
$160,000  in  cash  and  $140,000  in  six  per  cent,  preferred 
stock,  and  the  purchaser  to  take  common  stock  to  the 
amount  of  cash  actually  paid.  In  addition,  a  perma- 
nent rental  of  the  rooms  occupied  in  ''The  Press" 
building  was  made  at  $10,000  a  year,  and  Forney  was 
to  be  permanently  employed  as  contributing  editor  at 
$100  a  week.  The  agreement  was  transmitted  to 
Forney  in  London,  and  after  cabling  for  and  receiving 
explanations  of  one  or  two  features  of  the  agreement, 
he  signed  the  contract  of  sale  that  already  had  my 
signature,  mailed  it  to  me  from  London,  and  cabled 
authority  to  take  possession  of  the  newspaper  property. 
No  one  was  advised  of  these  proceedings  but  Curtin 
and  myself,  and  the  men  in  charge  of  the  paper  under 
the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Weigley,  Forney's  son-in- 
law,  were  greatly  surprised  when  I  called  at  the  office 


400 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  exhibited  Forney's  cablegram  closing  the  sale. 
Access  was  promptly  given  for  the  examination  of  all 
the  departments  of  the  paper,  and  arrangements  were 
made  to  take  possession  of  it  on  the  first  of  the  fol- 
lowing month. 

The  sale  of  ''The  Press"  v/as  publicly  announced, 
and  it  was  notice  to  the  political  leaders  of  the  city 
that  aggressive  hostility  to  their  mastery  was  about 
to  confront  them.  I  went  to  Washington  to  complete 
arrangements  for  the  Press  Bureau  at  the  National 
Capital,  and  when  I  returned  Mr.  Weigley  informed  me 
that  Mrs.  Forney  was  very  much  disturbed  about  the 
sale  and  desired  to  see  me.  The  terms  were  so  advan- 
tageous to  Forney  that  I  could  not  doubt  that  Mrs. 
Forney  vv^ould  be  glad  to  approve  the  sale,  if  she  fairly 
understood  the  conditions,  but  I  was  surprised  to  find 
her  implacably  and  violently  hostile  to  it.  She  stated 
that  she  had  consulted  Mr.  Childs,  Mr.  McMichael  and 
other  prominent  friends  of  Colonel  Forney,  who  had 
cabled  to  Forney  urging  him  not  to  consummate  the 
sale,  as  they  did  not  then  know  that  the  contract  of 
sale  had  been  signed  by  both  parties  and  was  complete. 
Mrs.  Forney  appealed  to  me  in  the  agony  of  tears  to 
permit  the  sale  to  be  revoked.  I  well  knew  how  errone- 
ously she  reasoned  on  the  subject,  but  I  finally  agreed 
that  a  cablegram  should  be  sent  to  Forney  over  my 
signature  authorizing  him  to  revoke  the  contract  if  he 
desired  to  do  so.  The  result  was  that  within  twenty- 
four  hours  Forney  cabled  revoking  the  sale,  and  Fome^^ 
continued  to  conduct  ''The  Press"  for  several  years 
with  little  profit,  and  finally  sold  it  to  its  present  owners 
for  just  one-half  the  price  he  would  have  received  by 
the  contract  of  1875. 

The  necessity  for  an  independent  newspaper  was  so 
generally  understood,  and  the  establishment  of  such  a 
journal  so  earnestly  desired, that. the  failure  of  "The 


Of  Pennsylvania 


401 


Press"  purchase  brought  Frank  McLaughlin  and 
myself  into  conferences  on  the  subject  of  starting  an 
entirely  new  paper.  Our  acquaintance  was  not  inti- 
mate, although  each  probably  we'll  understood  the 
qualities  of  the  other,  as  McLaughlin  was  known  to  be 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  printers  and  publishers 
of  the  city.  He  had  ample  capital,  which  I  had  not, 
but  I  had  assurances  from  friends  that  my  share  of  the 
needed  capital  wou.ld  be  furnished.  It  was  a  bold 
■undertaking  to  start  a  new  daily  journal  in  Philadelphia 
without  the  hope  of  any  official  patronage,  and  with 
the  assured  hostility  of  the  whole  political  power  of 
city  and  State.  McLaughlin  was  an  extremely  cau- 
tious man,  but  broad  gauge  and  liberal  in  carrying  out 
any  enterprise  he  decided  to  accept.  The  man  who 
really  brought  Mr.  McLaughlin  and  myself  together, 
and  who  finally  resolved  all  doubts  in  McLaughlin's 
mind  about  engaging  in  the  new  venture,  was  Philip 
Collins,  an  old-time  close  friend  of  McLaughlin,  who 
had  retired  from  business  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  our 
State  railroad  contractors,  with  an  ample  fortune,  and 
located  in  Philadelphia. 

"The  Age,"  then  owned  by  Dr.  Morwitz,  that  had 
less  than  five  hundred  circulation,  was  offered  for 
$30,000  payable  in  the  stock  of  the  new  company,  and 
that  gave  us  the  Associated  Press  franchise.  One- 
fourth  of  the  capital  stock  was  taken  by  Governor 
Curtin,  Charles  A.  Dana,  Andrew  IL  Dill  and  Colonel 
Scott,  represented  by  Senator  Wallace,  who  kindly 
proposed  to  take  the  risk  of  the  venture,  and  allow  me 
at  any  time  to  becom.e  owner  of  their  stock,  by  paying 
the  par  value  and  six  per  cent,  interest.  The  owmer- 
ship  of  the  new  paper  was  divided  into  four  equal  parts 
and  held  by  Frank  McLaughlin,  his  brother,  John, 
Philip  Collins  and  myself,  holding  the  powers-of- 
attorney  for  those  v/ho  had  subscribed  to  my  interest. 
2 — 26 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  only  things  of  value  to  us  in  the  equipment  of 
the  old  ''Age"  office  were  the  cases,  tables  and  an  old 
double  cylinder  Hoe  press,  capable  of  printing  about 
15,000  copies  of  "  The  Times"  in  an  hour  on  one  side. 
The  outside  formes  were  put  to  press  about  midnight, 
and  before  finishing  the  first  run  the  pressman,  who 
is  now  mine  host  of  Dooner's  Hotel,  would  go  out  on 
the  street  star-gazing,  and  if  a  fair  morning  was  prom- 
ised, he  would  add  500  to  the  regular  edition,  and  if 
stormy  weather  was  indicated,  he  would  cut  about 
the  same  number  from  it.  Of  course,  the  weather 
was  at  times  fickle  and  misled  Pressman  Dooner  by 
furnishing  a  clear  morning  when  he  had  printed  a  re- 
duced edition  for  a  stormy  morning,  but  these  were 
unavoidable  accidents. 

All  of  the  m.en  connected  with  the  business  part  of 
the  enterprise,  including  the  four  who  kindly  furnished 
my  capital,  have  crossed  the  dark  river,  but  tv/o  of  the 
men  who  began  with  the  issue  of  the  fi^rst  number  of 
The  Times"  are  yet  well  knowm  in  journalistic  circles. 
Dr.  Lambdin,  now  editor  of  the  Ledger,"  was  manag- 
ing editor  of  the  Times"  when  it  was  first  issued,  and 
continued  to  fill  that  position  creditably  until  the 
"Ledger"  finally  purchased  the  paper  and  continued 
Dr.  Lambdin  on  the  stafi".  Louis  N.  Megargee,  then 
an  ambitious  embryo  reporter,  was  on  the  local  staff, 
and  wrote  for  the  first  issue  an  article  of  a  column  and 
a  half,  beginning  the  battle  against  the  Philadelphia 
Pilgrims  that  not  long  thereafter  ended  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  organization.  Philip  Collins,  without 
whom  ''The  Times"  probably  never  would  have  been 
started,  was  a  man  of  few  words,  but  he  exhibited  an 
unusual  interest  in  the  newspaper  enterprise  that  was 
entirely  outside  of  his  business  ideas  and  tastes. 

The  first  number  was  issued  on  the  13th  of  March, 
1875,  in  the  "Old  Age"  building  on  Seventh  Street, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


above  Chestnut,  and  on  the  day  before  its  issue,  when 
all  hands  were  hard  at  work,  Collins  came  into  my 
editorial  room,  and  after  asking  a  few  questions  as  to 
how  things  were  progressing,  he  came  up  to  me  and 
said :  I  have  put  a  large  amoimt  of  money  in  this 
enterprise  and  perhaps  am  largely  responsible  for 
bringing  others  into  it.  I  believe  that  the  paper  can 
be  made  a  great  success,  but  if  it  fails  I  won't  squeal. 
I  have  but  one  request  to  make  of  you ;  that  is  that  you 
shall  run  this  paper  just  as  you  damn  please."  I 
answered  that  while  I  expected  to  assume  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  tone  and  general  policy  of  the  paper,  I 
should  certainly  rely  to  some  measure  upon  the  con- 
siderate judgment  of  my  associates.  The  paper  was 
started  without  a  single  subscriber,  and  none  were 
distributed  gratuitously.  A  fund  of  $50,000  was  in 
bank  to  aid  in  meeting  the  current  expenses.  At  the 
end  of  three  months  we  had  drawn  over  $13,000  upon 
that  fund;  the  next  quarter  the  receipts  and  expendi- 
tures were  about  balanced,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
we  could  have  paid  a  dividend  of  six  per  cent,  out  of 
earnings  and  cash  in  hand. 

The  second  year  we  bought  the  property  at  Eighth 
and  Chestnut  with  a  mortgage  of  $50,000  upon  it,  and 
built  the  original  Times  building  out  of  the  drawer  dur- 
ing the  Centennial  year,  and  bought  two  Hoe  Perfect- 
ing presses,  and  the  third  year  we  paid  the  mortgage  on 
the  property  with  a  considerable  surplus  in  the  treas- 
ury. No  dividends  were  thus  paid  the  first  three  years, 
and  dividends  were  also  passed  some  ten  years  later 
when  the  paper  was  reduced  to  a  penny,  and  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  of  new  machinery  had  to  be  purchased, 
and  again  when  ''The  Times'  "  mechanical  building  on 
Sansom  Street  was  burned  in  1892,  when  the  rebuilding 
and  the  increased  plant  cost  $115,000  more  than  the 
insurance.    Notwithstanding  these  five  years  in  which 


404  Old  Time  Notes 

no  dividends  were  paid,  ''The  Times"  in  the  twenty- 
six  years  in  which  it  was  under  the  direction  of  its 
foimders  paid  its  stockholders  in  cash  dividends  their 
entire  capital  five  times  over,  and  then  sold  the  property 
at  a  premium  of  $275  per  share,  including  every  share 
of  stock  issued  by  the  company.  The  dividends  many 
years  were  as  high  as  forty  per  cent,  and  in  a  short 
time  they  refunded  to  those  who  had  aided  it  their 
money  with  interest.  There  were  few  stockholders 
outside  of  the  four  chief  interests  in  the  paper,  and  they 
had  the  assurance  that  under  no  circumstances  would 
the  stock  be  sacrificed  by  a  sale  of  a  majority. 

That  policy  was  carried  out  after  all  the  founders 
were  dead  but  myself,  and  the  sale  was  made  to  Mr. 
Kindred,  who  purchased  every  share  of  the  stock  at 
the  same  price.  As  an  illustration  of  the  fidelity  that 
was  cherished  by  the  original  founders  for  each  other, 
the  case  of  Philip  Collins  may  be  given.  He  had  suf- 
fered some  losses  in  stocks  in  1875,  and  he  was  tempted 
to  resume  his  old  business  of  contracting  by  an  offer 
that  came  from  London  for  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
way in  Brazil.  After  consulting  with  Mr.  Gowan,  then 
president  of  the  Reading,  who  heartily  co-operated  with 
him,  he  and  his  brother,  Thomas  Collins,  took  the  con- 
tract and  sailed  for  Brazil  with  an  outfit  and  a  large 
company  of  operators.  Within  a  year  a  decision  of  the 
English  court  rendered  the  fund  that  was  relied  upon 
for  the  construction  of  the  road  unavailable,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  Collinses  returned  hopelessly  bank- 
rupt. When  Philip  Collins  entered  into  the  Brazilian 
contract  he  needed  money,  and  he  asked  his  associates 
to  purchase  his  stock  in  ''The  Times"  at  par  and  inter- 
est, and  it  was  done.  Money  was  not  needed  in  the 
office,  and  the  stock  was  put  away  in  the  safe  to  be 
held  for  any  emergency  that  might  arise.  The  pur- 
chase was  absolute,  and  Mr.  Collins  never  dreamed  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


having  any  further  interest  in  the  concern.  When 
he  returned  bankrupt,  his  associates  decided  that  as  he 
had  been  one  of  the  most  active  in  founding  ''The 
Times,"  and  had  now  suffered  great  losses  at  an  age 
when  he  could  hardly  hope  to  retrieve  his  fortune,  he 
should  have  the  benefit  of  his  stock  without  giving  him 
any  formal  ownership.  The  dividends  were  then  forty 
per  cent,  and  he  was  paid  the  dividends  less  interest 
upon  the  money  from  year  to  year,  until  finally  the 
company  again  purchased  his  stock  at  double  its 
original  cost.  He  made  the  sale  when  we  were  about 
to  reduce  the  price  of  the  paper  to  a  penny,  as  he  re- 
garded its  future  success  as  somewhat  problematic. 
When  John  McLaughlin  died,  leaving  an  estate  heavily 
encumbered,  the  stock  was  sold  and  purchased  by  the 
president  of  the  company  for  the  benefit  of  the  children, 
who  had  a  liberal  income  from  it,  even  after  the  pay- 
ment of  interest. 

Frank  McLaughlin's  health  was'  sadly  broken  for 
years  before  his  death,  so  much  so  that  he  was  really 
incapacitated  for  handling  a  great  newspaper  enterprise, 
and  at  his  death  I  was  left  alone  of  the  original  founders, 
and  with  a  large  majority  of  the  stock  held  by  guardians 
for  minor  children  who  v/ere  dependent  upon  its  divi- 
dends for  a  livelihood.  Finally  the  period  came,  by 
rapidly  increasing  competition  in  journalism,  when 
the  entire  earnings  of  the  paper  would  have  been  neces- 
sary for  a  year  in  advance  to  enable  it  to  maintain  its 
prosperous  condition.  Expending  profits  to  make 
future  profits  assured  meant  the  loss  of  much  needed 
income  to  a  number  of  children,  and  a  conference  was 
called  with  the  guardians  and  executors  who  repre- 
sented the  chief  interests,  and  the  facts  were  presented, 
leaving  simply  a  choice  between  the  sale  of  the  prop- 
erty or  expending  its  entire  earnings  for  a  year  to 
enlarge  its  business.    It  v/as  decided  to  sell,  and  Mr. 


4o6 


Old  Time  Notes 


Kindred  became  a  purchaser  in  1899,  when  my  editorial 
control  of  the  paper  ceased,  although  by  the  contract 
of  sale  I  was  required  to  continue  as  editor.  The  policy 
of  the  paper  on  all  matters  political  and  otherwise  was 
dictated  by  the  owner,  and  I  twice  asked  for  a  reduction 
of  my  own  salary  for  the  simple  reason  that  I  was  of  no 
more  value  to  the  paper  than  any  other  editorial  writer 
who  could  furnish  editorials  according  to  directions. 
''The  Times"  finally  ended  its  career  by  a  sale  that 
united  it  with  the  ''Ledger." 

When  "  The  Timies"  was  founded  it  was  an  imperious 
necessity  that  it  should  be  severely  and  consistently 
independent.  The  public  abuses  in  nation,  State  and 
city  were  the  abuses  of  Republican  authority,  and  that 
necessitated  an  aggressive  crusade  against  the  Repub- 
lican organization.  In  the  first  issue  of  the  paper  it 
was  announced  that  it  would  be  "independent  in 
everything,  neutral  in  nothing,"  and  it  maintained 
that  policy  with  scrupulous  fidelity  regardless  of 
personal  or  party  interests.  Its  first  great  battle  was 
with  the  Pilgrim  organization,  whose  leading  members, 
assuming  that  "  The  Times"  could  be  easily  overthrown, 
came  out  in  a  defiant  challenge,  denying  the  accusa- 
tions and  assuring  the  public  that  the  club  would 
be  continued  indefinitely.  It  was  a  short,  sharp  and 
decisive  cam_paign,  and  before  a  dozen  moons  had  filled 
their  houses  there  was  a  public  sale  of  the  furniture 
and  fixtures,  and  the  Pilgrim  Club  passed  into  history. 

The  policy  of  supporting  competent  and  faithful 
judges  for  re-election  was  declared  at  the  outset,  and 
the  sincerity  of  purpose  pointedly  illustrated  by  earn- 
estly favoring  Judge  Biddle,  the  Republican  candidate 
for  judge,  against  a  thoroughly  competent  Democratic 
competitor,  while  as  actively  opposing  the  remainder 
of  the  Republican  ticket.  The  policy  of  supporting 
an  independent  judiciar}^  and  urging  the  re-election  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


407 


all  faithful  and  competent  judges,  regardless  of  party, 
was  maintained  until  "The  Times"  passed  from  the 
possession  of  its  original  founders. 

Another  policy  from  which  it  never  departed  was  to 
solicit  no  patronage  from  political  power.  One  of  the 
first  achievements  of  the  new  paper  was  the  defeat  of 
Rowan  for  sheriff  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Wright,  the 
Democratic  candidate,  in  1876.  When  nominated, 
Mr.  Wright  called  on  the  editor  and  desired  to  know 
what  the  attitude  of  The  Times"  would  be.  He  did  it 
because  it  had  long  been  the  custom  to  visit  editors, 
ascertain  the  expression  they  would  make,  and  the 
attitude  of  the  paper  would  be  freely  spoken  of  and 
discussed  before  its  issue.  He  was  sorely  disappointed 
when  informed  that  he  must  wait  until  "The  Times" 
was  issued  the  next  morning,  to  know  what  it  had  to 
say  on  the  subject.  He  was  doubtless  agreeably  sur- 
prised to  find  the  most  positive  attitude  in  support  of 
his  election,  and  when  elected  he  immediately  called 
at  the  office  of  the  paper  to  say  that  his  entire  adver- 
tising patronage  would  be  given  to  "  The  Times."  He 
was  amazed  when  informed  that  he  could  not  publish 
any  official  advertisement  as  sheriff  in  the  columns  of 
the  paper.  His  term  covered  the  severe  depression  of 
1877,  and  the  sheriff's  advertising  amounted  to  over 
$30,000  a  year  to  each  of  any  two  papers  he  selected 
for  the  purpose,  but  "  The  Times"  refused  it,  believing 
that  it  was  necessary  to  establish  in  the  public  mind 
the  absolute  independence  of  the  paper,  and  its  refusal 
to  accept  the  sheriff's  advertising  led  to  the  re-organiza- 
tion of  the  "  Record"  that  laid  the  foundation  for  one 
of  the  great  nevv^spaper  properties  of  the  city.  A 
decade  later  the  paper  received  official  advertising,  as 
its  independent  attitude  was  fully  understood,  but  it 
never  permitted  an  abatement  of  a  dollar  for  the  benefit 
of  the  official  advertising. 


4o8 


Old  Time  Notes 


One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  a  long  political 
career  was  m}^  personal  relations  with  the  political 
leaders,  especially  of  the  city,  with  whom  the  paper  was 
almost  constantly  in  antagonism.  There  never  was 
any  personal  estrangement  betvv^een  any  of  them  and 
myself,  although  they  were  earnestly  and  defiantly 
assailed  when  occasion  demanded  it,  and  often  defeated. 
The  leaders  of  that  day  were  Stokley,  McManes, 
Leeds,  Rowan,  Hill,  Kemble  and  others.  There  never 
was  a  time  when  any  or  all  of  them  did  not  feel  entirely 
free  to  come  to  my  office  and  confer  about  political 
struggles  then  in  progress,  or  soon  to  begin,  and  the 
utmost  frankness  was  always  exhibited  with  entire 
confidence  in  the  sanctity  of  the  expressions  given.  I 
many  times  called  upon  some  of  them  and  secured  their 
aid  in  accomplishing  political  results  which  were  not 
inconsistent  with  the  policy  of  the  paper.  On  one 
occasion  I  secured  the  co-operation  of  Mayor  Stokley, 
McManes,  Leeds,  Hill  and  Kemble  with  the  aid  of 
Mackey,  to  defeat  Republican  candidates  for  several 
of  the  most  important  city  offices. 

It  was  not  done  because  they  especially  desired  the 
defeat  of  those  candidates,  but  because  they  did  not 
care  specially  for  them,  and  expected  some  time  to  gain 
reciprocal  results  of  more  importance  to  themselves. 
It  v/as  that  combination  that  made  Robert  E.  Pattison 
controller  of  Philadelphia,  and  twice  Governor  of  the 
State.  There  was  not  one  of  those  leaders  who  did  not 
feel  entirely  free  to  come  to  the  editorial  office  of  "  The 
Times"  and  discuss,  with  entire  frankness,  any  political 
proposition  he  desired  to  present,  and  their  slated 
nominations  were  many  times  modified  after  a  confer- 
ence in  "The  Times"  office,  to  avoid  a  desperate  stru.g- 
gle  in  which  their  defeat  was  more  than  possible.  I 
recall  at  least  two  occasions  when  candidates  were 
withdrav/n  from  the  ticket  after  they  had  been  formally 


Of  Pennsylvania 


409 


nominated,  because  it  was  a  necessity  to  do  so  to  avoid 
a  desperate  and  doubtful  struggle. 

All  of  these  men  suffered  humiliating  defeat  at  one 
time  or  another.  McManes  was  defeated  for  re-election 
to  the  Gas  Trust,  Rowan  and  Leeds  were  each  defeated 
for  sheriff,  and  Hill,  after  having  been  slated  for  the 
nomination  for  sheriff  practically  without  a  contest, 
announced  his  declination  in  ''The  Times"  office  in 
favor  of  Enoch  Taylor,  who  had  been  unthought  of 
for  the  place,  because  his  election  could  not  be  supported 
by  the  paper  and  he  saw  unmistakable  signs  of  revo- 
lution on  every  side.  He  was  then  bankrupt  and 
pleaded  most  earnestly  for  a  chance  to  retrieve  his 
fortimes,  but  while  he  could  not  be  made  a  candidate 
for  sheriff,  he  was  enabled  to  realize  a  large  income 
during  Taylor's  term,  who  received  only  his  salary, 
while  Hill  received  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  advertising 
from  the  newspapers,  giving  him  a  much  larger  income 
than  the  salary  of  the  sheriff.  These  relations  made  a 
political  role  so  difficult  to  accept  that  it  could  be 
maintained  only  by  never  departing  in  the  least  degree 
from  the  absolutely  independent  policy  of  the  paper, 
and  that  policy  made  "The  Times"  one  of  the  most 
successful  newspapers  of  the  country. 


410 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXVIII. 


VENALITY  IN  LEGISLATION. 


Corruption  of  Legislators  Practically  Unknown  until  Half  a  Century 
Ago — The  Original  Old  Time  Lobbyist  Who  Never  Debauched 
Legislators — The  Struggle  Between  Ignorance  and  Prejudice  on  the 
One  Side,  and  Progressive  Elements  of  the  State  Looking  to  the 
Development  of  Wealth,  Gave  Importance  to  Venal  Influences — The 
First  Open  Debauch  in  the  Senatorial  Contest  of  1855 — Again  Vis- 
ible in  1858  in  the  Sale  of  State  Canals  to  the  Sunbury  and  Erie 
Railroad — War  Brought  Demoralization  and  Quickened  Venality — 
Many  Sternly  Honest  Legislators  Supported  Measures  They  Knew 
to  be  Corrupt  —  Venality  Largely  Ruled  in  Legislation  until  the 
Adoption  of  the  New  Constitution — Political  Power  Largely  Ruled 
Legislation,  But  Diminished  Individual  Prostitution. 


'ENALITY  was  practically  unknown  in  Penn- 


sylvania legislation  half  a  century  ago.  There 


^  had  been  several  occasions  when  important 
bills  were  pressed  upon  the  Legislature  which  aroused 
bitter  partisan  antagonism,  when  the  debauchery  of 
individual  legislators  v\^as  hinted  at,  but  in  no  instance 
was  it  clearly  established.  The  recharter  of  the  United 
States  bank  as  a  State  institution  was  a  notable  instance 
of  the  early  legislative  contests  which  called  out  impu- 
tations of  unlawful  influences,  but  in  that  case,  instead 
of  debauching  members  of  the  Legislature,  when  the 
bank  secured  the  support  of  prominent  senators  and 
representatives,  it  accepted  in  the  charter  obligations 
to  make  public  appropriations  in  which  legislators 
were  interested.  The  State  canals  had  been  a  running 
sore  of  corruption  for  many  years,  and  it  required 
extraordinary  efforts  almost  every  season  to  obtain 
the  appropriations  demanded  by  the  canal  board, 
as  the  conviction  was  very  general  that  a  considerable 


Of  Pennsylvania 


percentage  of  the  money  thus  appropriated  was  cor- 
ruptly appHed;  but  as  a  rule  the  canal  board  had  a 
party  majority  in  the  Legislature,  and  with  the  patron- 
age it  possessed,  its  power  over  legislation  was  usually 
equal  to  all  its  requirements. 

The  only  method  adopted  for  the  passage  of  charters 
or  private  bills  which  met  with  opposition  was  what 
was  then  commonly  spoken  of  as  ''log  rolling."  That 
method  consisted  of  combining  interests  in  the 
support  of  a  number  of  bills,  many  of  which  would  have 
been  opposed  by  a  number  of  those  in  the  combina- 
tion if  each  bill  had  been  considered  only  on  its  merits, 
but  by  such  combinations  a  majority  could  be  obtained 
to  pass  a  large  number  of  bills  in  which  members  were 
specially  interested.  Log  rolling  was  then  denounced 
as  the  bane  of  honest  legislation,  just  as  venality  is 
now  denounced  as  a  poison  to  the  ver}^  vitals  of  popular 
government.  Banks  were  then  organized  by  a  special 
charter  passed  by  the  Legislature,  and  on  several  occa- 
sions, when  the  Legislature  was  not  specially  friendly 
to  bank  charters,  a  combination  would  be  formed, 
including  a  dozen  or  more  bank  charters  and  other 
private  bills  of  interest  to  individual  members,  and  thus 
by  the  log-rolling  process  all  would  be  passed,  but  no 
one  in  those  days  entered  the  Legislature  as  m.any  did 
later,  and  as  some  do  now,  with  the  expectation  that 
they  may  reap  large  pecuniary  profit  by  the  legislative 
authority. 

I  well  remember  when  there  was  but  one  man  known 
in  Harrisburg  during  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature 
who  devoted  his  time  to  v/hat  would  now  be  called 
lobbying.  He  was  Captain  Keams,  one  of  the  most 
popular  of  the  packet  captains  on  the  canal  in  the  boat- 
ing season,  and  who  spent  his  winters  at  Harrisburg 
devoting  himself  to  obtaining  private  legislation  when 
wanted  by  his  m.any  friends  throughout  the  State, 


412 


Old  Time  Notes 


who  usually  gave  him  what  woiild  now  be  regarded  as 
a  very  insignificant  fee  for  his  trouble;  but  he  never 
entertained  the  idea  of  debauching  members  of  the 
Legislature,  or  tempting  them  by  venal  offers.  As 
the  Legislature  then  had  imlimited  authority  over  pri- 
vate legislation,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  individuals 
to  be  especially  interested  in  the  passage  of  local  bills, 
and  they  preferred  to  pay  Captain  Kearns  a  small  fee 
because  his  knowledge  of  committees  and  legislators 
enabled  him  to  accomplish  what  they  could  not  accom- 
plish by  their  own  efforts. 

In  later  years,  when  venality  ran  riot  in  legislation, 
the  lobbyist  became  altogether  the  most  important 
factor  in  Pennsylvania  legislation,  and  I  could  name  a 
dozen  men  who  amassed  liberal  forttmes  by  plying 
their  vocations  as  lobbyists.  They  were  men  of 
imusual  intelligence  and  sagacity,  some  of  whom  had 
held  important  political  positions,  and  when  venality 
became  the  ruling  power  of  legislative  authority  and 
great  interests  involving  at  times  millions  of  dollars 
were  presented,  none  attempted  to  obtain  legislation 
which  affected  pecuniary  interests  without  accepting 
the  slimy  embrace  of  the  lobby.  These  men  have  all 
passed  away,  and  their  names  may  be  consigned  to 
charitable  forget  fulness. 

I  served  three  years  in  the  house  beginning  with 
the  session  of  1858,  and  six  years  in  the  senate  ending 
in  1874,  and  during  that  period  of  sixteen  years  ven- 
ality in  legislation  reached  its  tidal  wave.  I  saw  it  in 
every  phase,  and  many  times  supported  measures  when 
I  knew  that  a  considerable  portion  of  those  who  were 
voting  with  me  had  demanded  and  obtained  a  price 
for  their  votes.  When  not  in  the  Legislature  I  was 
connected  with  the  military  department  at  Harris- 
burg  during  the  war  and  for  some  time  after  its  close, 
and  my  connection  with  the  public  affairs  of  the  State 


Of  Pennsylvania 


413 


covered  the  period  when  legislative  results  were  often 
a  supreme  necessity,  and  when  men,  however  honest 
in  purpose,  could  not  take  pause  to  inquire  what  means 
w^ere  necessary  for  its  attainment. 

The  Democrats  were  then,  as  a  party,  hostile  to 
banks,  and  with  that  partisan  sentiment  arrayed 
against  the  banks,  a  combination  was  formed  by  a 
number  of  venal  legislators  to  extort  money  from  tl:e 
banks  at  the  price  of  relieving  them  from  the  penalty 
of  suspension.  A  committee  of  bankers  were  present 
at  the  opening  of  the  session  and  pressed  the  passage 
of  the  bill  with  great  earnestness,  but  they  were  dum- 
founded  when,  after  a  long  delay,  they  v/ere  confronted 
with  a  demand  for  a  considerable  amount  of  money  to 
be  put  down  to  save  the  bill  from  defeat.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  banks  were  appalled  at  the  proposition, 
and  decided  to  send  for  a  number  of  prominent  bankers 
to  confer  with  them  on  the  subject.  Among  the  men 
sent  for  was  the  elder  Boker,  who  had  brought  the 
Girard  Bank  up  from  the  verge  of  insolvency  to  a 
thoroughly  substantial  and  dividend -paying  institu- 
tion. He  was  eminently  practical  and  rugged  in  his 
methods.  When  the  matter  was  submitted  to  him  his 
answer  was:  "What's  the  use  of  praying  when  you're 
in  hell.  Pay  the  money  and  get  your  bill. ' '  There 
was  no  time  to  bring  popular  pressure  to  bear  upon  the 
Legislature,  and  Mr.  Boker 's  method  was  adopted, 
whereby  the  suspension  of  1857  was  legalized  by  the 
Legislature. 

It  is  just  half  a  century  since  Pennsylvania  began, 
at  first  in  a  feeble  way,  to  liberalize  her  policy  by  the 
encouragement  of  corporate  organizations  to  develop 
her  wealth.  Until  that  time  the  State  was  held  in  the 
leading  strings  of  ignorance  and  prejudice.  Corpora- 
tions were  looked  upon  by  a  very  large  portion  of  the 
people  as  mere  organizations  to  obtain  special  privi- 


414 


Old  Time  Notes 


leges  from  the  State  to  enrich  individuals,  and  many- 
others  tolerated  them  only  as  necessary  evils.  Every 
effort  made  to  liberalize  the  policy  of  the  State  was  at 
first  hindered  by  prejudice  and  later  on  by  venality,  as 
venality  was  stimulated  by  the  necessities  of  great 
enterprises.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  would  never 
have  been  more  than  a  local  line  betv^een  Philadelphia 
and  Pittsburg  if  the  terms  of  its  original  charter  had 
been  maintained,  and  it  had  to  struggle  more  than  a 
decade  against  ignorance,  prejudice  and  venality  to 
liberalize  the  policy  of  the  State  and  enable  it  to  bring 
millions  of  trade  to  our  metropolis,  and  to  develop  the 
countless  millions  of  wealth  which  have  been  gained 
to  the  State  by  the  liberal  and  progressive  corporate 
policy  that  was  finally  won  after  m^any  desperate 
struggles. 

It  was  these  combinations  which  gave  birth  to  venal 
legislation  in  Pennsylvania.  The  corruption  of  Leg- 
islatures was  not,  as  a  rule,  for  benefits  to  individuals, 
excepting  as  they  might  profit  by  the  grand  enter- 
prises which  they  planned  for  the  development  of  the 
vast  resources  of  the  Commonwealth.  They  were 
halted  by  the  legislative  corruptionist,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  bow  to  his  demands  or  leave  the  State 
to  plod  along  vv^ith  its  commerce  crippled  and  its  wealth 
slumbering.  It  was  just  such  a  condition  as  confronted 
the  National  Government  in  1865,  when  the  constitu- 
tional amendment  abolishing  slavery  had  been  defeated 
in  the  first  session  of  Congress.  It  was  laid  over,  on 
motion  to  reconsider,  and  finally  passed  during  the 
second  session,  when  a  number  of  Democrats  changed 
their  votes,  some  of  whom  received  political  advantages, 
lucrative  appointments  from  the  administration  very 
soon  thereafter.  It  v/as  a  supreme  necessity  to  pass  the 
amendment;  it  could  be  done  in  only  one  way,  and 
that  was  adopted  not  from  choice,  but  from  necessity. 


of  Pennsylvania 


415 


The  bill  for  the  sale  of  the  Main  Line  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad  as  originally  passed  by  the  Legislature 
was  not  the  creation  of  the  lobby,  as  the  railroad  com- 
pany refused  to  accept  the  bill.  That  movement  had 
behind  it  an  overwhelming  sentiment  in  favor  of  the 
sale  of  the  public  works,  because  of  the  corruption  and 
profligacy  which  prevailed  in  their  direction,  and  the 
Whig  party  was  practically  solid  in  support  of  it,  while 
the  best  elements  of  the  Democrats  also  favored  the 
sale.  It  was  made  the  great  feature  of  Governor 
Pollock's  administration,  and  he  pressed  it  with  ear- 
nestness upon  the  Legislature,  and  that  important 
reform  was  accomplished  chiefly  or  wholly  by  legiti- 
mate efforts;  but  the  supreme  court  declared  uncon- 
stitutional the  section  releasing  the  corporation  from 
taxes  on  its  property,  including  tonnage  taxes,  in  con- 
sideration of  certain  payments  made  for  the  sale  of 
the  Main  Line,  and  while  the  sale  was  declared  to  be 
legal  when  carried  into  effect,  the  tonnage  tax  ques- 
tion remained  until  the  company,  after  many  desperate 
struggles,  finally  accomplished  its  repeal  in  1861. 

While  the  imperious  necessity  for  a  liberalized  policy 
in  Pennsylvania  that  would  promote  the  development 
of  our  boundless  resources  was  the  chief  fountain  of 
venality  in  our  Legislature  in  its  desperate  struggle  for 
the  period  of  half  a  generation  with  ignorance,  prejudice 
and  venality,  it  is  only  just  to  say  that  the  first  general 
debauchery  of  the  Legislature  was  caused  by  a  pro- 
tracted and  most  demoralizing  political  contest  in 
1855,  when  fully  a  score  of  men  at  one  time  or  another 
entered  the  contest  for  the  United  States  Senatorship. 
It  was  the  only  Know  Nothing  Legislature  the  State 
ever  had,  and  as  a  very  large  portion  of  its  members 
had  been  nominated  and  elected  by  secret  machinery 
that  opened  the  widest  doors  for  fraud,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  such  a  Legislature  should  be  a  most  inviting 


4i6 


Old  Time  Notes 


field  for  corruptionists.  The  chief  contest  for  Senator 
was  between  Cameron  and  Curtin,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  State  S3^stematic  efforts  were 
made  to  control  the  choice  of  Senator  by  the  direct 
purchase  of  legislators.  Curtin  w^as  backed  by  the  old 
Whig,  or  better  element  of  the  Legislature,  while  Cam- 
eron traded  with  the  Know  Nothings,  but  neither 
could  command  a  majority,  and  at  one  time  or  another 
ambitious  men  with  money  were  brought  to  Harris- 
burg  under  the  belief  that  they  could,  by  the  expen- 
diture of  money,  become  a  compromise  Senator.  Some 
half  a  dozen  men  made  that  experiment,  and  all  were 
alike  systematically  robbed.  The  result  was  that  the 
Legislature  finally  adjourned  without  electing  a  Sen- 
ator, and  the  Democrats,  winning  the  Legislature  the 
following  year,  elected  ex-Governor  Bigler.  This  epi- 
sode of  legislative  debauchery  was  the  first  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  State  in  which  the  highest  honors  in  the  gift 
of  the  Commonwealth  were  made  a  matter  of  commerce, 
and  it  paved  the  way  for  the  long  season  of  legislative 
venality  that  grew  up  in  the  great  effort  that  began  a 
few  years  later  for  a  liberalized  corporate  policy  to 
develop  our  vast  resources. 

The  Legislature  of  1858,  when  I  first  appeared  as  a 
member  of  the  house,  had  a  less  flagrant  repetition  of 
the  venality  begun  in  1855.  The  Main  Line  of  our 
public  works  had  been  sold,  leaving  the  State  odds  and 
ends  of  canals  which  were  made  a  constant  source  of 
loss  to  the  treasury,  because  of  their  profligate  man- 
agement by  the  canal  board.  It  was  the  last  remnant 
of  the  vast  power  that  had  been  exercised  by  political 
corruptionists  who  controlled  our  public  works,  and, 
while  public  sentiment  was  strongly  in  favor  of  dis- 
posing of  the  remaining  canals,  the  canal  board  made  a 
desperate  struggle  to  preserve  its  existence  and  retain 
its  control  of  patronage  and  power.    I  had  for  years 


of  Pennsylvania 


417 


been  advocating  the  sale  of  all  the  State  works  because 
of  the  ceaseless  current  of  debauchery  they  brought 
into  the  politics  of  the  State,  and  very  ardently  sup- 
ported the  bill  for  the  sale  of  the  works  to  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Erie  Railroad.  It  proved  to  be  a  most 
beneficent  measure  in  a  double  sense,  as  it  assured 
the  completion  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  line  that 
had  been  struggling  for  many  years  without  reasonable 
prospect  of  success,  and  the  State  received  $3,000,000 
for  the  canals.  The  bill  w^as,  in  fact,  a  loan  of  credit 
by  the  State  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie,  as  the 
canals  were  sold  to  that  company  for  $3,000,000,  but 
the  canals  were  left  entirely  free  for  the  railway  com- 
pany to  sell  or  mortgage,  while  the  State  accepted  a 
mortgage  for  $3,000,000  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie 
Railroad. 

The  measure  was  attacked  by  all  the  power  of  the 
canal  board,  aided  by  those  who  persisted  in  the  moss- 
back  policy  of  hindering  advancement,  and  by  all  who 
hoped  to  turn  their  legislative  authority  to  individual 
profit,  and  the  leaders  in  the  movement  were  com- 
pelled to  choose  between  bowing  to  the  demands  of 
venality  or  abandoning  one  of  the  most  important  enter- 
prises for  the  advancement  of  the  State,  with  individ- 
ual profits  that  they  hoped  to  realize  legitimately  from 
their  great  work.  There  was  no  hope  of  constructing 
the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Railroad  for  many  years, 
unless  some  such  loan  of  credit  could  be  secured,  and 
they  paid  legislative  venality  its  price,  and  thus  created 
the  great  artery  of  trade  through  what  was  then  largely 
a  vast  wilderness  between  Williamsport  and  Erie,  with 
boundless  wealth  slumbering  in  the  moimtains  and 
valleys.  From  that  time  until  the  policy  of  the  State 
was  liberalized,  perhaps  even  beyond  legitimate  necessi- 
ties during  the  war,  venality  ruled  in  Pennsylvania 
legislation,  and  it  became  so  common  that  even  the 


2 — 27 


4i8 


Old  Time  Notes 


most  trivial  bills  involving  any  individual  interest  were 
made  to  pay  tribute  to  corruptionists,  and  lobbyists 
and  legislators  studied  day  and  night  how  they  could 
introduce  bills  affecting  existing  corporations  or  other 
interests,  and  compel  them  to  be  halted  by  blackmail. 
They  were  known  as  ''pinch"  bills,  and  were  one  of 
the  common  features  of  legislation  for  many  years, 
as  the  Legislature  then  had  unrestricted  power  in  pri- 
vate legislation. 

War  is  a  great  demoralizer,  and  civil  wars  the  worst 
of  all,  and  our  legislation  dviring  the  war  was  so  gen- 
erally controlled  by  corruptionists  that  it  became 
accepted  as  one  of  the  inseparable  features  of  Pennsyl- 
vania legislation.  Under  even  ordinary  conditions, 
grave  political  necessities  often  arise,  but  during  the 
war  political  necessities  were  often  so  imperious  in 
every  feature  that  no  hopeful  means  could  be  left 
unemployed  to  meet  them.  I  well  remember  when 
the  house  was  brought  to  the  first  vote  on  the  question 
of  sustaining  the  Governm.ent,  after  Sumter  had  been 
fired  upon.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  we 
should  hold  the  Democrats  from  a  solid  column  against 
the  government,  and  within  two  hours  of  the  time 
that  the  house  was  to  act,  I  was  informed  by  a  member  • 
of  the  body  who  well  understood  the  situation,  and  who 
usually  profited  by  such  conditions,  that  for  a  very 
moderate  sum  of  mone}^  a  number  of  the  Democrats 
could  be  held  to  the  support  of  the  government.  A 
conference  was  hastily  held  in  the  Governor's  office ,  and 
some  six  or  eight  men  who  were  present  contributed, 
from  their  own  private  means,  an  equal  share  of  money 
that  was  promptly  paid  and  the  contract  fulfilled. 

I  served  continuously  in  the  house  and  senate  from 
the  session  of  1858  to  the  close  of  the  session  of  1862, 
and  was  thereafter  official  1}^  connected  with  the  military/ 
department  of  the  government  until  the  close  of  the 


0{  Pennsylvania 


419 


war.  One  of  my  important  duties  was  to  give  special 
attention  to  legislation  relating  to  the  support  of  the 
State  administration  and  to  the  government  ^in  pros- 
ecuting the  war,  and  during  that  period  I  had  full 
knowledge  of  the  attitude  of  every  member  of  both 
branches,  and  nearly  or  quite  all  of  them  knew  that  I 
was  fully  advised  of  the  venal  contracts  of  legislators. 
They  knew  that  I  was  so  situated  that  it  would  not  only 
make  me  utterly  powerless,  but  probably  result  in  grave 
disaster  on  some  most  important  matters,  if  an  attempt 
had  been  made  to  expose  and  punish,  or  even  to  halt, 
the  flood  tide  of  venality.  For  years  during  that  period 
I  saw  the  private  memoranda  of  the  leading  lobbyists, 
in  which  the  name  of  every  senator  and  every  represen- 
tative was  recorded  who  could  be  corruptly  influenced 
in  legislation,  and  I  have  seen  in  that  record  as  many 
as  seventy  of  the  one  hundred  members  of  the  house, 
and  more  than  twenty  of  the  thirty- three  senators. 
They  were  of  different  classes,  the  larger  class  ready  to 
deal  with  or  against  anything,  while  the  smaller  class 
could  be  reached  only  on  particular  occasions,  when 
they  felt  that  they  could  do  it  with  safety. 

While  serving  in  the  senate,  the  prominent  venal 
traders  in  both  branches  never  hesitated  to  discuss  any 
contract  for  the  support  of  certain  measures,  as  they 
knew  that  I  could  not,  and  certainly  would  not,  attempt 
to  betray  them.  Venality  was  absolutely  masterful, 
and  with  the  terrible  exigencies  of  war  and  the  at  times 
startling  necessities  which  were  suddenly  thrown  upon 
the  adm.inistration,  there  was  but  one  course  open,  and 
that  was  to  utilize  the  Legislature  as  it  was,  inasmuch 
as  it  could  not  be  made  otherwise. 

I  remember  on  one  occasion  a  certain  bill  of  local 
interest  had  been  set  up  by  a  prominent  lobbyist  to 
be  passed  in  the  senate,  but  a  short  time  before  the  bill 
was  called  a  considerably  larger  sum  was  offered  to 


420 


Old  Time  Notes 


defeat  it,  and  the  senator  who  dealt  for  the  gang,  who 
at  the  time  had  the  money  in  his  pocket  to  pass  the  bill, 
received  the  larger  sum  to  defeat  it,  and  it  happened 
that  he  was  called  to  the  chair  and  presided  with  the 
money  for  both  sides  in  his  pocket,  when  the  bill  was 
considered  and  defeated.  In  both  branches  the  venal 
elements  were  organized  in  small  gangs  of  ten  or  a 
dozen  in  the  house,  and  five  or  more  in  the  senate,  and 
by  seeing  the  leaders  arrangements  could  be  made, 
if  the  terms  were  acceptable,  for  the  requisite  number 
of  votes  without  dealing  with  individuals.  During 
all  this  tidal  wave  of  legislative  venality  there  were 
men  of  the  purest  purpose  and  sternest  integrity  who 
served  in  both  branches,  with  full  knowledge  of  the 
venal  environment,  but  they  knew  that  if  they  at- 
tempted to  assail  it  they  would  simply  be  made 
utterly  powerless  to  serve  their  constituents  or  any  im- 
portant public  or  private  interests  they  had  at  heart. 

This  condition  continued,  varying  only  in  degree, 
until  the  adoption  of  the  new  Constitution  in  1874. 
I  was  one  of  those  who  earnestly  urged  the  constitu- 
tional convention  for  years  before  it  was  accepted, 
and  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary  to 
enlarge  the  Legislature  as  the  only  method  of  rescuing 
it  from  the  mastery  of  venality,  and  it  is  only  just  to 
say  that  since  the  enlargement  of  the  Legislature 
there  has  been  no  instance  in  which  anything  approach- 
ing a  majority  of  either  branch  of  the  Legislature  has 
been  open  to  venal  purchase.  New  conditions  have 
arisen,  by  which  partisan  power  largely  commands  legis- 
lation, and  while  measures  quite  as  corrupt  and  pro- 
fligate as  any  of  those  enacted  during  the  tidal  wave 
of  venality  are  occasionally  enacted  under  the  new  con- 
ditions, it  is  generally  chiefly  by  the  power  of  political 
leadership,  and  only  to  a  very  limited  degree  by  the 
debauchery   of  individual  members.    I   have  good 


Of  Pennsylvania 


421 


reason  to  know  that  the  general  sweep  of  legislative 
venality  was  halted  by  the  new  Constitution.  My  last 
term  in  the  senate  ended  just  when  the  new  Constitu- 
tion went  into  effect,  and  at  no  time  during  the  war 
was  legislative  venality  more  common  than  it  was  in 
1873-74,  the  last  of  the  limited  Legislature  under  the 
old  Constitution.  Instead  of  the  lobbyists  of  the  olden 
time,  the  political  masters  of  the  present  dictate  im- 
portant legislation  that  involves  profit  to  individuals, 
and  the  shame  of  a  generally  corrupted  senate  and 
house  has  been  effaced  from  the  annals  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. 

I  have  noted  with  interest  the  careers  of  the  men  I 
knew  as  corruptionists  in  the  early  days  of  my  legis- 
lative career,  and  only  a  very  small  percentage  of  those 
who  realized  the  largest  profits  by  the  sale  of  their 
votes  enjoyed  a  competency  throughout  their  lives. 
Money  so  easily  made,  and  bringing  with  it  a  departure 
from  honest  purposes  in  life,  logically  inspired  pro- 
fligacy and  indulgence,  and  a  large  majority  of  those 
who  once  thought  themselves  men  of  moderate  for- 
ttine,  as  the  fruits  of  legislative  corruption,  died  in 
poverty.  Long  continued  and  close  observation  of 
this  once  glaring  evil  that  shadowed  the  Commonwealth 
with  shame,  clearly  teaches  that,  as  a  rule,  no  public 
official  can  afford  to  make  his  official  authority  a 
matter  of  bargain  and  sale  for  individual  profit,  even 
as  a  business  proposition,  exclusive  of  the  disgrace  that 
the  moral  turpitude  involved.  There  are  apparent 
exceptions  to  the  rule,  as  is  common  with  all  rules,  but 
official  venality  is  reasonably  certain,  sooner  or  later, 
to  bring  sorrow  or  shame,  and  often  both. 


Old  Time  Notes 


LXXXIX. 
HARTRANFT  RE-ELECTED. 

Mackey  and  Quay  Take  Early  and  Vigorous  Action  to  Retrieve  the  Defeat 
of  1874 — They  Perfect  the  Republican  Organization — Obtain  Abso- 
lute Control  of  the  Greenback  and  Labor  Organizations — Green- 
back Sentiment  Very  Formidable  in  the  State — Hartranft  Unani- 
mously Renominated — A  Protracted  Contest  for  the  Democratic 
Nomination — ^Judge  Pershing  Finally  Chosen — The  Labor  and 
Greenback  Parties  Held  from  Fusion  by  Republican  Leaders,  and 
That  Elected  Hartranft  by  12,000  Plurality — The  Democrats  Carried 
the  Popular  Branch  of  the  Legislature — Hartranft 's  Creditable 
Career  as  Governor — Later  Collector  of  the  Port  and  Postmaster — 
Finally  Suffered  Financial  Disaster,  and  Made  Earnest  but  Unavail- 
ing Efforts  to  Save  His  Friends. 

THE  Republican  disaster  of  1874,  by  which  the 
dominant  party  of  the  State  lost  its  entire 
State  ticket,  the  control  of  the  Legislature 
and  a  United  States  Senator,  made  the  leaders  enter 
very  early  and  earnestly  upon  the  work  of  rescuing 
the  State  in  187 5, when  a  Governor  and  State  treasurer 
were  to  be  elected.  Hartranft  was  about  closing  his 
first  term  as  Governor,  and,  beyond  his  necessary 
identification  with  the  Cameron-Mackey  power  of 
the  State,  his  record  had  been  generally  creditable. 
He  was  highly  respected  personally  and  his  superb 
record  as  a  volunteer  soldier  warmly  commended  him 
to  the  loyal  people  of  the  State.  He  was  not  a  leader, 
although  generally  level-headed  as  an  adviser.  He 
could  do  little  or  nothing  to  promote  his  own  nomina- 
tion and  election,  but  with  Mackey  and  Quay  to  handle 
the  organization  he  could  safely  rely  upon  the  best 
possible  results  being  obtained.  They  knew  that  the 
contest  was  doubtful,  and  they  took  time  by  the  fore- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


423 


lock  in  fortifying  themselves  wherever  their  lines  were 
weak,  and  they  made  very  important  incursions  into 
the  enemy's  forces  which  were  not  visible  to  the  public. 
There  were  two  side  elements  in  politics  which  were 
then  largely  commercial,  and  what  Mackey  and  Quay 
did  not  know  about  handling  such  elements  was  not 
worth  studying,  and  they  practically  assured  the 
success  of  Hartranft  by  the  early  manipulation  of  the 
Greenback  and  Labor  leaders. 

The  Greenback  sentiment  had  become  quite  strong 
among  the  Democratic  people,  and  there  were  many 
Republicans  who  would  have  been  glad  to  see  their 
own  party  adopt  the  new  theory.    The  Greenback 
movement  was  the  first  insidious  form  of  repudiation 
that  was  formulated  after  the  war.    During  the  war 
there  were  open  repudiationists,  but  small  in  number 
and  influence,  who  openly  proclaimed  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  nation  to  pay  the  enormous  war  debt, 
and  frankly  advised  summary  repudiation  as  the  only 
relief.    President  Johnson,  in  a  formal  message  to 
Congress,  advised  the  repudiation  of  the  public  debt  by 
the  payment  of  the  amount  of  the  principal  in  interest 
and  make  that  absolute  payment.    The  movement 
was  given  great  vitality  in  1868  by  George  H.  Pendle- 
ton, of  Ohio,  who  had  been  the  nominee  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent with  McClellan  in  1864.    He  became  an  aggressive 
candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  President 
and  openly  proclaimed  his  policy  of  having  but  one 
form  of  paper  money,  all  issued  by  the  government, 
that  should  be  receivable  by  all,  including  the  govern- 
ment, as  legal  tender,  excepting  where  specific  contracts 
were  made  for  different  payment.    The  Democrats  of 
Ohio  were  greatly  enthused  in  support  of  Pendleton, 
and  I  well  remember  the  Ohio  delegation  at  the  New 
York  convention,  that  nominated  Seymour  for  Presi- 
dent and  General  Elair  for  Vice-President,  all  wearing 


424 


Old  Time  Notes 


badges  in  imitation  of  Greenbacks,  and  thousands  of 
Ohio  rooters,  decorated  in  hke  manner,  all  hurrahing 
for  Pendleton  and  plenty  of  money. 

It  had  evidently  taken  deep  root  in  Ohio,  and  in  1873 
the  venerable  ex-Senator  Allen  was  nominated  as  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  on  a  distinctly 
Greenback  platform  and  elected  over  General  Noyes,  a 
gallant  and  crippled  soldier  of  the  war.  This  was  the 
first  form  of  practical  repudiation  while  actually  dis- 
claiming repudiation,  and  the  free  silver  tidal  Vv^ave 
was  simply  a  fresh  eruption  of  repudiation  in  a  new 
form  adapted  to  the  new  conditions  of  the  country. 
They  logically  led  to  Populism,  that  has  since  gravi- 
tated into  Socialism,  and  greatly  multiplied  not  only  the 
tolerance  of  anarchy,  but  the  actual  growth  of  anarchy 
among  the  idle  and  vicious  of  the  land.  The  socialism 
and  anarchy  of  to-day  are  the  logical  fruits  of  the 
repudiation  that  began  with  the  Greenback  movement, 
followed  by  the  variegated  cheap  money  and  get-some- 
thing-for-nothing  movements  which  were  injected  into 
the  politics  of  the  coimtry. 

The  Republicans  opened  the  campaign  of  1875  "the 
early  part  of  the  year,  holding  their  convention  at 
Lancaster  on  the  25th  of  May.  Governor  Hartranft 
was  renominated  for  Governor  by  acclamation  and  on 
the  second  ballot,  Henry  Rawle,  of  Erie,  was  nomi- 
nated for  State  treasurer.  The  Democratic  State  con- 
vention met  at  Erie  on  the  8th  of  September,  presided 
over  by  Hon.  Hendrick  B.  Wright,  of  Luzerne.  There 
was  a  protracted  and  somewhat  embittered  struggle 
over  the  question  of  adopting  the  Greenback  theory, 
as  the  party  faith,  but  under  the  lead  of  Frank  Hughes, 
of  Schuylkill,  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  State,  who 
threw  himself  into  the  contest  with  great  earnestness, 
the  doctrine  of  a  universal  government  paper  money 
to  be  a  legal  tender  in  all  dealings  with  the  government 


of  Pennsylvania 


425 


and  between  individuals,  excepting  where  specific  con- 
tracts were  made  of  a  different  character,  was  formally 
proclaimed  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  party. 

Among  the  prominent  Democrats  of  that  day  were 
many  men  engaged  in  large  financial  and  other  business 
enterprises  who  were  not  prepared  to  take  the  plunge 
toward  repudiation  that  was  obviously  involved  in  the 
newly  declared  policy  of  the  party,  and  it  chilled  many 
who  had  been  among  its  most  earnest  supporters.  It 
was  expected  by  the  leaders  who  dominated  the  con- 
vention that  the  Democrats  would  lose  a  certain  per- 
centage of  their  followers  who  were  engaged  in  large 
business  operations,  but  it  was  believed  that  the  doc- 
trine of  universal  Greenback  currency,  that  everybody 
should  be  compelled  to  accept,  was  popular  with  the 
masses  of  the  people,  and  by  accepting  the  policy  they 
expected  to  control  the  State.  They  were  disappointed 
in  that  expectation,  however,  as  while  they  lost  the 
support  of  many  of  their  more  prominent  business 
men,  they  gained  very  little  from  the  Republicans  on 
the  new  monetary  issue.  Many  Republicans  were 
willing  to  accept  the  Greenback  policy,  but  there  were 
few  sufficiently  wedded  to  the  new  mioney  theory  to 
make  them  desert  their  party  household. 

The  convention  was  in  session  several  days  wrangling 
over  the  platform  that  was  followed  by  a  protracted 
struggle  for  the  Gubernatorial  nomination.  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Bigler  had  a  number  of  friends  in  the  convention, 
and  although  he  had  made  no  open  efforts  to  secure 
delegates,  he  was  very  anxious  to  obtain  the  nomi- 
nation. Judge  Pvoss,  of  Montgomery,  was  the  favorite 
candidate  of  the  active  leaders  in  the  organization,  and 
his  vote  steadily  increased  imtil  the  tenth  ballot  that 
stood  Ross  68,  Bigler  54  and  Pershing  50,  with  a  number 
scattering.  On  the  eleventh  and  last  ballot  the  vote 
stood  Pershing  145  and  Ross  94,  with  11  scattering. 


426 


Old  Time  Notes 


Judge  Pershing  was  not  regarded  as  a  promising  candi- 
date when  the  convention  met.  He  was  not  a  favorite 
of  the  party  leaders  and  on  the  first  ballot  he  received 
only  12  votes,  all  of  which  were  regarded  as  compli- 
mentary, but  as  is  common  in  a  contest  where  there 
are  half  a  dozen  prominent  competitors,  as  they  are 
in  turn  compelled  to  retire  from  the  race,  the  natural 
tendency  is  for  them  to  transfer  their  support  to  a  dark 
horse  rather  than  to  those  who  have  bowled  them  out. 
Judge  Pershing  had  not  been  publicly  canvassed  as 
a  candidate  for  Governor,  and  when  the  convention  met 
none  in  or  out  of  the  convention  expected  him  to  be 
selected  as  a  candidate,  but  his  strength  steadily 
increased  until  on  the  eleventh  ballot,  that  was  taken 
after  a  prolonged  session  extending  beyond  midnight, 
he  received  a  large  majority.  Victor  Piolett,  who  was 
an  aggressive  representative  of  the  Greenback  element 
and  who  was  voted  for  for  Governor  on  every  ballot, 
was  tmanimously  nominated  State  treasurer.  It  was 
generally  understood  that  Judge  Pershing  was  not 
greatly  charmed  with  the  Greenback  idea,  and  the  ticket 
w^as  balanced  with  one  of  the  most  aggressive  of  the 
Greenback  leaders. 

The  nomination  for  Governor  came  to  Judge  Per- 
shing in  1 8  7  5  entirely  without  solicitation  or  effort.  He 
accepted  the  nomination  in  a  very  temperate  and  sen- 
sible address,  and  he  refused  to  take  any  active  part  in 
the  campaign.  He  insisted  that  as  long  as  he  remained 
a  judge  it  was  his  duty  to  confine  himself  to  his  judicial 
duties,  and  he  was  not  inclined  to  resign  his  position  on 
the  bench  to  accept  a  doubtful  contest  for  the  Gover- 
norship. He  was  a  man  of  eminent  ability,  not  only 
as  a  jurist,  but  as  a  politician,  and  would  have  been  a 
very  formidable  advocate  on  the  stump,  but  his  high 
conceptions  of  judicial  duties  prevented  him  plunging 
into  a  political  contest  while  performing  them.  Har- 


of  Pennsylvania 


427 


tranft  was  not  a  public  speaker,  and  the  result  was  that 
both  of  the  candidates  for  Governor  were  unheard  in 
the  contest,  but  the  struggle  was  watched  with  great 
earnestness  by  their  respective  friends. 

Notwithstanding  the  adoption  of  the  Greenback 
policy  by  the  Democratic  convention,  Mackey  and 
Quay  had  the  sideshow  political  element  well  in  hand, 
and  the  distinctive  Greenback  leaders  with  the  Labor 
organizations,  all  of  whom  at  that  time  were  in  favor 
of  the  cheapest  money  and  the  largest  volume  of  it, 
were  organized  imder  satisfactory  commercial  arrange- 
ments to  aid  the  Republican  ticket.  In  their  anxiety 
to  save  Governor  Hartranft  they  were  content  to  have 
the  Greenback  and  Labor  elements  brought  to  the 
support  of  the  State  ticket  without  pressing  them  to 
the  point  of  supporting  Republican  Legislative  candi- 
dates, and  the  result  was  that  while  Hartranft  was 
elected  by  over  12,000  majority  the  Democrats  carried 
the  popular  branch  of  the  Legislature  by  iii  Demo- 
crats to  90  Republicans,  but  the  Republicans  held  the 
senate  by  29  to  21.  Hartranft  was  beaten  in  the  State 
outside  of  Philadelphia  by  some  8,000  majority,  but 
the  Greenback  theory  adopted  by  the  Democrats 
greatly  strengthened  the  Republicans  in  business 
circles,  and  Philadelphia  gave  over  20,000  Republi- 
can majority. 

Hartranft  s  second  administration  was  uneventful 
with  the  single  exception  of  the  severe  business  revul- 
sion and  general  revolutionary  tendencies  of  1877,  dur- 
ing which  he  rendered  a  very  great  service  to  the  State 
by  his  firm  and  discreet  direction  of  affairs  in  the  most 
serious  troubles  which  had  ever  befallen  the  Common- 
wealth. There  were  no  serious  disturbing  questions  of 
State  policy  during  his  second  term,  and  he  performed 
his  duties  unostentatiously,  but  with  great  fidelity, 
and  commanded  the  respect  of  all  parties.    He  was  as 


428 


Old  Time  Notes 


modest  in  civil  and  private  life  as  he  was  heroic  when 
in  the  field,  where  he  fairly  won  the  distinction  of  being 
the  foremost  of  Pennsylvania  volimteer  chieftains  in 
the  war. 

After  he  retired  from  the  Gubernatorial  chair  he 
filled  the  positions  of  postmaster  and  collector  of  the 
port  in  Philadelphia.  In  1 8  7  6 ,  a  year  after  his  re-election 
as  Governor,  he  was  nominated  as  Pennsylvania's 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  by  a  practically  unanimous 
vote  at  the  State  convention,  and  the  delegation  chosen 
to  the  National  convention  was  instructed  to  vote  for 
him  as  a  imit.  While  he  Vv^as  voted  for  on  every  ballot 
at  the  Cincinnati  convention,  he  never  became  formid- 
able as  a  candidate  for  the  nomination,  but  his  candi- 
dacy served  the  important  purpose  cherished  by  the 
Camerons,  Mackey  and  Quay,  to  defeat  the  nomination 
of  Blaine,  to  whose  nomination  they  were  very  earnestly 
opposed. 

In  the  sudden  iron  boom  of  1 882,  when  it  was  believed 
that  the  iron  and  steel  trade  would  be  permanently  pros- 
perous in  the  coimtry,  Hartranft  engaged  in  an  im- 
portant iron  enterprise  in  Virginia,  of  which  he  took 
personal  charge,  and  many  of  his  personal  and  political 
friends  aided  him  in  its  capitalization.  Like  most  of 
the  iron  enterprises  organized  at  the  time,  it  met  with 
disastrous  failure,  and  Hartranft  devoted  the  few 
remaining  days  of  his  life  to  protect  some  of  those  who 
invested  with  him  and  were  unable  to  stand  the  loss. 
He  struggled  along  year  after  year,  exhausting  his 
vitality,  and  beyond  a  frugal  living  to  himself  and  his 
family,  he  gave  all  his  surplus  earnings  to  the  payment 
of  interest  upon  his  iron  bonds  which  were  nearly  or 
quite  entirely  worthless.  The  constant  and  exhausting 
worry  of  his  financial  condition  certainly  hastened  his 
death,  but  while  he  lived  he  devoted  his  efforts  to  save 
his  associate  investors. 


of  Pennsylvania 


420 


xc. 

THE  MOLLY  MAGUIRE  MURDERERS. 

The  Most  Appalling  Chapter  of  Crime  Ever  Recorded  in  the  Annals  of 
Pennsylvania — History  of  the  Molly  Maguire  Organization — The 
Outgrowth  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians — Its  Criminal  Methods 
— Offensive  Mining  Bosses  and  Operators  Murdered  in  Open  Day — 
Political  Power  Contracted  for  Protection  to  Criminals — The  Won- 
derful Story  of  James  McParlan  as  Detective  Inside  the  Order — 
Gowan's  Masterly  Ability  in  Conducting  Prosecutions — Sixteen 
Molly  Maguires  Executed — Many  Others  Imprisoned,  and  a  Dozen 
or  More  Fugitives  from  Justice. 

THE  most  tragic  and  deeply  crimsoned  chapter 
in  the  annals  of  Pennsylvania  since  the 
mastery  of  civilization  over  the  savage,  is 
the  story  of  a  murderous  organization  started  within 
the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  some  time  in  the  early 
60 's,  and  continuing  a  regular  carnival  of  murder 
against  men  who  were  entirely  innocent  of  provocation 
by  which  scores  of  men  were  deliberately  murdered, 
culminating  in  the  execution  of  sixteen  of  the  Molly 
Maguire  criminals  with  a  considerable  number  of 
additional  criminals  who  became  fugitives  from  justice. 

The  Molly  Maguires  who  made  such  an  appalling 
record  of  crim.e  in  Pennsylvania  were  simply  a  revival 
of  what  was  known  as  Ribbonism  in  Ireland  some  two 
generations  ago.  The  Ribbon  Society  was  organized 
within  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  and  oppressive 
landlords,  importunate  agents  and  resolute  bailiffs 
were  at  times  condemned  to  death  by  the  Ribbon 
leaders,  and  one  or  more  members  of  the  organization 
charged  with  the  duty  of  committing  murder.  As  a 
rule  those  who  were  entire  strangers  to  the  condemned 


430  Old  Time  Notes 

parties  were  chosen  to  commit  the  murder,  thus  lessen- 
ing the  opporttinity  of  identification,  and  at  times 
marauding  parties  dressed  in  female  apparel  to  assure 
concealment.  Finally  the  murderous  organization  was 
discovered  by  detectives  and  a  number  of  executions 
followed  whereby  Ribbonism  perished  in  Ireland.  It 
is  a  notable  fact  that  while  only  a  very  fev/  members 
of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  were  directly  con- 
nected with  Ribbonism  in  Ireland,  there  is  no  record 
of  the  order  openly  condemning  Ribbonism  or  aiding 
in  the  arrest  and  punishment  of  any  of  its  guilty 
members. 

The  Molly  Maguires  whose  murders  and  general  law- 
lessness brought  an  ineffaceable  stain  upon  our  great 
Commonwealth,  like  Ribbonism  in  Ireland,  were  all 
members  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  and  the 
fact  that  the  organization  made  no  systematic  effort  to 
expose  and  punish  the  Molly  Maguires  brought  such 
general  reproach  upon  the  order  that  it  was  formally 
excommunicated  by  Archbishop  Wood,  and  although 
the  order  has  largely  recovered  from  the  dishonor  and 
demoralization  caused  by  the  Molly  Maguires  within 
its  household,  the  record  of  the  Mollies  remains  as  a 
fearful  reproach  upon  the  organization. 

It  is  a  secret  order  with  signs  and  passwords  which  are 
changed  quarterly  and  given  out  by  the  Board  of  Erin, 
with  headquarters  in  Great  Britain,  where  it  is  the 
governing  power  of  the  entire  organization.  The 
American  headquarters  of  the  order  are  in  New  York 
city,  where  the  national  board  meets,  and  in  this  State 
in  the  city  of  Pittsburg,  where  the  State  delegate  rules 
supreme.  Beneath  him  are  county  delegates  in  each 
county  of  the  State  in  which  the  organization  has 
members,  and  beneath  the  county  delegates  are  body- 
masters,  who  are  the  heads  of  the  various  local  branches. 
The  signals  and  passwords  are  communicated  from  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


431 


Board  of  Erin  to  the  national  headquarters  in  New 
York  city,  thence  to  the  various  State  delegates,  and 
by  them  to  those  who  are  subject  to  their  orders. 

In  the  earlier  days  of  mining  in  the  anthracite  region 
the  majority  of  the  miners  were  Irishmen,  and  most  of 
them  members  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians. 
They  became  greatly  inflamed  against  the  coal  opera- 
tors, their  employers,  and  gradually,  and  perhaps  with- 
out originally  intending  it,  drifted  into  the  lines  pursued 
by  Ribbonism  in  Ireland.  The  chief  center  of  the 
Mollies  in  Schuylkill  Coimty  was  in  Cass  Township, 
where  I  first  struck  them,  when  in  charge  of  the  draft 
made  imder  the  State  laws  in  1862.  At  that  time  there 
had  been  more  than  a  dozen  murders  in  Cass  Town- 
ship within  a  few  years  without  any  of  the  guilty 
parties  being  brought  to  pimishment.  I  have  stated 
in  a  previous  chapter  how  the  Molly  Maguires  not  only 
obstructed,  but  absolutely  defeated  the  draft  in  Cass 
Township,  and  how  I  was  compelled,  under  personal 
instructions  from  President  Lincoln,  to  revoke  the 
order  for  the  draft  and  release  the  conscripts  on  the 
mere  pretense  of  evidence  that  the  quota  had  been 
filled.  It  was  an  imperious  necessity  to  prevent  an 
open,  desperate  and  bloody  conflict  in  the  heart  of  our 
great  Commonwealth,  that  would  have  greatly  strength- 
ened rebellion  in  the  South  and  weakened  the  loyal 
cause  in  the  North. 

This  organization  of  Molly  Maguires  that  seems  to 
have  had  either  the  active  or  passive  support  of  the 
Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians  generally,  had  its  origin 
as  early  as  i860,  and  grew  rapidly  as  year  by  year  it 
increased  its  power,  and  finally  absolutely  dominated 
the  politics  of  Schuylkill  County.  It  aimed  to  control 
the  judges  on  the  bench,  the  prosecuting  officers  of  the 
county,  the  commissioners  and  the  jurors,  and  in  1872 
it  had  become  so  masterful  in  the  political  control 


43^ 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  the  county  that  good  people  of  all  parties  made 
common  cause  and  elected  Cyrus  L.  Pershing,  of  Cam- 
bria, who  had  never  even  visited  Schuylkill  Cotmty, 
president  judge,  and  the  heroic  administration  of  justice 
inaugurated  by  Judge  Pershing  was  a  m^ost  important 
factor  in  the  final  exposure,  conviction  and  execution 
of  the  Molly  Maguires. 

Every  public  officer  in  the  cotmty  and  in  the  adjoin- 
ing county  of  Carbon  felt  that  his  life  was  unsafe  if  he 
took  any  step  looking  to  the  exposure  and  prmishment 
of  these  banded  murderers,  and  they  became  so  bold 
that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  propose  terms  in  political 
conferences,  offering  their  support  to  individuals  or  par- 
ties in  consideration  of  money  or  protection  for  their 
criminals.  It  is  an  open  secret,  but  well  established, 
that  in  187 5,  when  Governor  Hartranft  was  a  candidate 
for  re-election.  Jack  Kehoe,  the  brilliant  and  desperate 
leader  of  the  Molly  Maguires,  met  a  prominent  citizen 
of  Potts ville  in  his  own  parlor,  and  was  there  solemnly 
assured  that  Governor  Hartranft  would  protect  the 
Molly  Maguire  criminals  in  consideration  of  the  organi- 
zation and  all  its  power  supporting  Plartranft's  re- 
election. In  the  trial  of  Thomas,  one  of  the  Molly 
Maguire  murderers,  George  Byerly,  warden  of  the 
Schuylkill  County  jail,  testified  that  in  a  conversation 
with  Kehoe,  then  a  prisoner,  on  the  charge  of  murder, 
said:  I  do  not  think  that  we  will  get  justice,  but  if 
we  don't  get  justice  I  don't  think  the  old  man  at  Har- 
risburg  (Hartranft)  will  go  back  on  us." 

Hartranft  was  entirely  ignorant  of  this  pledge,  and 
certainly  never  would  have  made  it  or  permitted  it  to 
be  made  had  he  known  of  the  proposition,  but  he  was 
nevertheless  very  seriously  embarrassed  by  the  power- 
ful influence  that  demanded  the  protection  of  Jack 
Kehoe.  Hartranft  delayed  the  execution  longer  than 
is  usual  under  such  circumstances,  but  he  finally  issued 


Of  Pennsylvania 


433 


the  death  warrant,  and  Kehoe  gave  great  relief  to  many 
in  the  State  by  dying  with  sealed  lips. 

The  organization  had  rendered  such  important 
political  services  to  many  prominent  men  of  the  State 
that  they  naturally  made  exhaustive  efforts  to  save 
the  lives  of  their  friends.  In  one  instance  Lin  Bar- 
tholomew, then  in  the  forefront  of  the  Schuylkill  bar, 
and  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Republican  State  leaders, 
made  an  earnest  struggle  to  save  the  life  of  Duffy,  one 
of  four  murderers,  who  were  to  be  executed  on  a  certain 
day.  He  made  a  final  appeal  to  the  Board  of  Pardons 
for  a  reprieve  for  this  particular  criminal,  but  the  Board 
divided  on  the  question,  even  after  Bartholomew  had 
given  assurance  that  one  or  more  of  the  four  men  to  be 
executed  together  would,  by  public  confession  on  the 
scaffold,  acquit  his  client. 

Hartranft  acted  within  the  lines  of  safety,  alike  to 
himself  and  to  the  administration  of  justice,  by  signing 
a  reprieve  and  sending  Mr.  Farr,  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Pardons,  to  attend  the  execution,  with  orders 
to  deliver  the  reprieve  if  any  confession  was  made  by 
the  others  acquitting  Bartholomew's  client.  Farr 
attended  the  execution,  and  made  laiown  his  mission 
only  to  the  sheriff  and  the  ministering  priest.  There 
were  four  to  be  executed,  two  were  executed  together, 
and  the  one  whose  reprieve  was  in  the  possession  of 
Farr  v\^as  held  back  with  another  tmtil  after  the  two 
were  executed  who  were  expected  to  give  the  additional 
testimony  in  their  confession.  They  accepted  the 
death  noose  in  silence,  and  without  protest  from  the 
priest,  who  had  received  the  confession  of  the  dying 
men,  the  whole  four  were  executed,  and  Farr  brought 
the  reprieve  back  to  the  Governor. 

The  political  power  of  this  organization  became  next 
to  absolute  in  Schuylkill  County,  and  that  domination 
lasted  for  a  nimiber  of  years.    So  carefully  were  the 
2—28 


434 


Old  Time  Notes 


criminal  acts  planned  and  the  executions  covered/that 
it  was  more  than  ten  years  from  the  time  that  syste- 
matic murder  was  put  into  practice  by  the  Molly 
Maguires  before  any  one  of  the  guilty  parties  was 
brought  to  justice.  Franklin  B.  Go  wan,  one  of  the 
ablest  trial  lawyers  in  the  State,  and  a  man  of  sublime 
courage,  was  district  attorney  of  Schuylkill  Coimty 
during  the  early  operations  of  the  Molly  Maguires.  He 
saw  that  there  was  organized  crime  in  the  community, 
that  murders  and  other  felonious  crimes  were  perpe- 
trated from  time  to  time,  and  it  was  impossible  to  trace 
the  guilty  parties,  showing  that  there  was  a  powerful 
and  well  organized  element  in  the  commimity  that  was 
vigilantly  supporting  and  protecting  the  criminals.  He 
saw  nearly  every  official  of  the  coimty  unwilling 
to  make  a  manly  effort  for  the  detection  and  punish- 
ment of  the  banded  criminals,  and  it  was  largely 
through  his  political  ingenuity  that  Judge  Riley  was 
defeated  in  1872,  and  Judge  Pershing  chosen  to  succeed 
him.  Gowan  then  had  a  court  that  he  knew  he  could 
trust,  and  he  decided  to  devote  his  efforts  untiringly 
to  the  discovery  of  the  criminals,  and  bring  them  to 
the  bar  of  justice. 

After  repeated  conferences  with  Allan  Pinkerton,  of 
Chicago,  the  head  of  the  National  Detective  Agency, 
it  v/as  decided  to  select  some  young  man  who  was  equal 
to  the  terrible  undertaking  to  join  the  Molly  Maguires, 
secure  their  confidence  and  report  from  time  to  time 
the  crimes  they  planned  and  executed.  After  very 
careful  investigation  Pinkerton  selected  James  Mc- 
Parian,  a  young  Irishman,  born  in  Armagh  County,  in 
1844,  and  a  Catholic.  He  was  only  twenty-nine  years 
of  age  when  he  accepted  the  fearfully  perilous  imder- 
taking.  He  was  a  live,  muscular  fellow,  about  five  feet 
eight  inches  in  height,  with  fair  complexion,  dark  chest- 
nut hair,  a  broad,  full  forehead,  and  a  keen  gray  eye.  He 


of  Pennsylvania 


435 


was  possessed  of  a  wonderful  memory  which  served 
him  well  later  on.  He  started  upon  his  journey  in 
October,  1873,  "^der  the  name  of  James  McKenna, 
and  by  representing  himself  as  a  fugitive  from  justice, 
claiming  to  have  murdered  a  man  in  Buffalo,  and  slyly 
suggesting  that  he  did  not  have  to  work  hard  for  a 
living  on  account  of  being  a  false  coiner,  he  quickly  got 
into  the  good  graces  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians 
in  the  various  towns  in  Schuylkill  and  Carbon  Cotinties 
which  he  visited. 

These  representations  of  his  misdeeds  brought  him 
into  such  favor  that  in  April,  1874,  he  was  formally 
initiated  a  member  of  the  organization,  and  continued 
to  be  most  active  in  its  murderous  councils  imtil  Feb- 
ruary, 1876,  when  his  identity  became  known  and  his 
career  as  a  detective  came  to  an  end.  During  that 
period  of  time  McParlan  discovered  a  condition  of 
affairs  in  the  Schuylkill  coal  region  that  is  so  appalling 
as  to  almost  defy  belief.  He  found  that  every  Molly 
Maguire,  as  the  assassins  and  incendiaries  were  known 
among  themselves,  was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  Order 
of  Hibernians,  and  that  the  proceedings  of  that  organi- 
zation were  used  for  little  other  purpose  than  to  order 
the  destruction  of  life  and  property.  Cotmty  conven- 
tions were  little  more  than  gatherings  in  which  men 
were  selected  to  kill  others  whom  they  had  never  seen. 
He  discovered  that  the  oath  of  secrecy  was  nothing 
more  in  its  enforcement  and  its  use  than  an  oath  to 
protect  the  murderer  and  to  revenge  with  pistol  or 
dagger  a  wrong  supposed  to  have  been  done  any  mem- 
ber of  the  body.  It  would  take  many  volumes  to  tell 
the  full  story  of  the  details  of  this  gigantic  conspiracy 
to  slay  and  bum. 

While  other  murders  had  been  committed  before 
that  period,  the  first  one  directly  traced  to  the  Molly 
Maguires  was  that  of  Alexander  Rae,  a  mining  superin- 


436 


Old  Time  Notes 


tendent,  cn  the  17th  of  October,  1864,  who  vv^as  shot  on 
the  pubhc  highway  in  Columbia  County.  The  really 
guilty  parties  were  tried  for  the  murder  at  Blooms- 
burg,  but  their  efforts  in  support  of  an  alibi  were  so 
overwhelming  that  they  escaped;  but  twelve  years 
later  the  murderers  of  Rae  were  executed  for  later 
murders. 

On  the  25th  of  August  David  Muhr,  a  colliery  super- 
intendent, was  murdered  in  broad  daylight  and  within 
two  hiindred  yards  of  the  colliery,  but  the  murderers 
were  so  well  hidden  that  they  were  never  brought  to 
justice. 

On  the  loth  of  January,  1866,  Henry  H.  Dunne, 
another  mining  superintendent,  was  murdered  in  cold 
blood  on  the  public  highway,  but  the  guilty  parties 
were  never  discovered  and  no  arrests  were  made. 

On  the  15th  of  March,  1869,  William  H.  Littlehales, 
another  mining  superintendent,  was  murdered  on  the 
public  road  and  the  murderers  were  never  discovered. 

In  Carbon  Coimty,  that  adjoins  Schuylkill,  frequent 
murders  of  the  same  kind  were  committed  in  the  same 
period,  including  those  of  George  K.  Smith,  F.  W.  S. 
Langdon,  and  Graham  Powell,  all  of  whom  were 
colliery  superintendents,  or  connected  with  large 
mining  operations. 

On  the  14th  of  August,  1875,  Gomer  James  was 
murdered  at  a  picnic  in  Shenandoah,  and  subsequent 
developments  proved  that  the  murder  was  committed 
by  Thomas  Hurley,  who  had  been  selected  at  a  county 
convention  of  the  order  to  commit  the  crime. 

On  the  nth  of  August  Thomas  Gwyther,  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  who  had  issued  a  warrant  for  the  arrest 
of  William  Love,  a  criminal  Molly  Maguire,  was  shot 
and  killed  on  the  public  street  of  Girardville  by  Love, 
who  fled  and  was  never  captured. 

On  the  Cth  of  July,  1875,  Benjamin  F.  Yost,  a  police 


Of  Pennsylvania 


437 


officer  of  Tamaqua,  was  shot  by  two  then  tinknown 
men.  In  the  trial  of  the  suspected  parties,  who  were 
convicted  and  executed,  it  was  proved  that  Yost  had 
offended  another  member  of  the  order,  and  Hugh 
McGehan  and  James  Boyle  were  ordered  to  murder 
him. 

On  the  first  of  September,  1875,  Raven  Rtm, 
Thomas  Sanger,  a  mining  boss,  and  William  Uren  were 
shot  and  killed  by  five  men,  who  were  members  of  the 
order,  and  on  the  third  of  September,  1875,  John  P. 
Jones,  a  mining  boss,  of  Lansford,  Carbon  Cotmty,  was 
shot  and  killed  by  Edward  Kelly  and  Michael  J.  Doyle, 
members  of  the  order.  They  had  been  assigned  by 
lot  to  commit  the  crime. 

John  P.  Jones  was  one  of  the  best  known  men  in  the 
anthracite  coal  regions  and  highly  respected,  and  his 
murder  occurred  at  a  time  when  Go  wan 's  efforts, 
through  McParlan,  were  bringing  rich  fruits.  The 
first  arrests  made  under  Gowan's  systematic  movement 
to  bring  the  Molly  Maguires  to  justice  were  those  of 
Michael  J.  Doyle  and  Edward  Kelly  for  the  murder  of 
Jones,  and  it  was  the  culmination  of  the  blood-thirsty 
reign  of  the  thugs  of  the  anthracite  region.  Mr.  Go  wan 
was  then  well  equipped  by  inside  information  from 
the  Mollies  as  to  the  leaders  in  these  murders,  and  the 
public  excitement  was  greatly  intensified  by  the  cold- 
blooded butchery  of  Jones. 

Doyle,  Kelly  and  Kerrigan  were  the  first  Molly 
Maguires  brought  to  the  bar  of  justice,  and  their  trial 
for  the  murder  of  Jones  was  called  on  the  1 8th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1876.  Separate  trials  were  demanded,  and  Doyle 
was  first  tried,  convicted  of  murder  in  the  first  degree 
and  sentenced  to  death.  This  was  the  first  conviction 
of  a  known  Molly  Maguire  for  murder  in  the  Schuylkill 
region.  Kerrigan  turned  State's  evidence  and  told 
the  whole  story  of  the  murder,  by  which  he  saved  his 


438 


Old  Time  Notes 


neck,  while  Doyle  and  Kelly  paid  the  penalty  of  their 
crimes  on  the  gallows. 

About  that  time  it  was  discovered  by  the  leading 
Molly  Maguires  that  every  movement  they  planned 
became  in  some  way  known  to  the  officers  of  the  law. 
It  was  McParlan's  work,  who,  every  time  that  oppor- 
tunity presented,  sent  written  reports  of  what  the  lead- 
ing Mollies  were  doing  to  save  the  assassins.  The 
prosecuting  attorney  of  Carbon  County  was  daily 
advised,  from  a  source  entirely  unknown  to  him,  of 
every  move  the  opposing  lawyers  would  make.  Mc- 
Parlan  not  only  gave  accurate  information  as  to  the 
criminals  and  the  details  of  the  crimes  committed,  but 
he  gave  equally  accurate  information  as  to  every  move- 
ment made  for  the  protection  of  the  criminals  who  were 
brought  before  the  courts. 

He  was  finally  suspected  by  his  criminal  associates, 
and  he  saw  that  the  time  was  not  distant  when  not  only 
his  usefulness  would  be  ended,  but  when  he  would 
sacrifice  his  life  if  he  remained.  When  his  position  as 
detective  was  first  whispered  he  met  Jack  Kehoe  face 
to  face,  and  demanded  that  a  convention  of  the  order 
be  called  that  he  might  summon  his  accusers  and  acquit 
himself.  Kehoe  called  the  convention,  but  before  the 
time  for  its  meeting  McParlan  discovered  that  nothing 
would  be  done  there  beyond  taking  his  life.  He  was 
in  constant  consultation  with  Captain  Linden,  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  Coal  and  Iron  Police,  and  who  aided 
materially  in  effecting  McParlan 's  final  escape  to  Phila- 
delphia. When  he  reached  Philadelphia  in  safety  it 
was  decided  that  the  time  had  come  for  him  to  appear 
in  open  court  as  a  witness,  and  Gowan  startled  the 
court  and  the  crowded  audience  in  attendance  on  the 
4th  of  May,  1876,  when  the  murderers  of  Benjamin 
F.  Yost  were  placed  on  trial  before  Judge  Pershing, 
by  calling  James  McParlan  to  the  witness  stand,  who 


Of  Pennsylvania 


439 


was  at  once  known  to  all  the  Mollies  in  attendance  as 
James  McKenna,  who  had  been  a  detective  in  their 
midst  for  two  years  past. 

The  whole  appalling  story  of  the  Molly  Maguire 
infamy  was  then  told  to  the  court,  and  justice  again 
resumed  her  sway  in  her  own  sanctuary  until  sixteen 
men,  all  members  of  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians, 
were  himg.  They  were  Thomas  Munley,  for  the  murder 
of  Thomas  Sanger;  James  Carroll,  James  Roart}^ 
Hugh  McGehan,  James  Boyle  and  Thomas  Duffy,  for 
the  murder  of  Benjamin  Yost;  Michael  J.  Doyle,  Ed- 
v/ard  Kelly  and  Alexander  Campbell,  for  the  murder 
of  John  P.  Jones;  John  Donahue  and  Thomas  P. 
Fisher,  for  the  murder  of  Morgan  Powell;  Jack  Kehoe, 
for  the  murder  of  F.  W.  S.  Langdon;  Patrick  Hester, 
Tully  and  McHugh,  for  the  murder  of  Alexander  Rae, 
and  Peter  McManus,  for  the  murder  of  Frederick 
Hesser. 

In  addition  to  these  executions,  Thomas  Donahue, 
Edward  Monaghan,  Barney  B.  Boyle,  Kate  Boyle, 
Bridget  Hyland,  Thomas  Duffy,  John  Morris,  Dennis 
F.  Canning,  Christopher  Donnelly,  John  Gibbons, 
Michael  O'Brien,  Patrick  Dolan,  Frank  O'Niel,  and  a 
number  of  others,  all  members  of  the  order,  were  sen- 
tenced to  terms  of  imprisonment,  varying  from  one  to 
seven  years,  for  perjury,  assault  and  battery  with  intent 
to  kill,  etc. 

Although  more  than  a  generation  has  passed  away 
since  these  Molly  Maguire  murders  began,  there  are  yet 
some  of  the  many  fugitives  from  justice  living  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  world,  who  may  be  tried  for  murder  at 
any  time  during  their  lives  if  caught  and  brought  back 
to  the  scenes  of  their  crimes.  Among  those  who  were 
known  to  have  committed  murder  in  obedience  to  the 
orders  of  the  Molly  Maguires,  and  who  became  fugitives 
from  justice  to  escape  punishment,  are  William.  Love, 


440 


Old  Time  Notes 


Thomas  Hurley,  Micliael  Doyle,  James,  alias  Friday," 
O'Donnell,  James  McAllister,  John,  alias  ''Humpty," 
Flynn,  Jerry  Kane,  Frank  Keenan,  William  Gimn, 
John  Reagan,  Thomas  O'Neil  and  Patrick  D.  Gallagher, 
alias  Piignose  Pat."  These  men  became  fugitives, 
and  their  residence  has  never  been  discovered.  Doubt- 
less most  of  them  have  joined  their  criminal  fellows  on 
the  other  side,  but  some  of  them  are  living  and  in  con- 
stant dread  of  being  overtaken  by  justice. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


441 


XCI. 

NATIONAL  BATTLE  OF  1876. 

Republicans  Had  Not  Recovered  from  the  Overwhelming  Defeat  of 
1874 — Democrats  Held  the  House  Most  of  the  Time  for  Twenty 
Years — Tilden  Nominated  for  President — His  Strength  and  Per- 
sonal Attributes — Receives  a  Large  Popular  Majority  for  President — 
John  I.  Mitchell  Brought  to  the  Front — Nominated  for  Congress  to 
Defeat  Strang — Senatorial  Deadlock  of  1881  Made  Him  United 
States  Senator — Advised  of  His  Selection  by  the  Author  in  Washing- 
ton— Made  President  Judge  and  Later  Superior  Judge — Retired 
for  Physical  and  Mental  Disability. 

THE  first  National  revolt  against  Republican 
power  after  the  war  occurred  in  1874,  when  the 
Democrats  elected  a  large  majority  of  the 
popular  branch  of  Congress,  embracing  181  Democrats, 
107  Republicans  and  3  Independents,  and  that  revolt 
culminated  two  years  later,  in  1876,  when  the  Demo- 
crats gave  Tilden,  their  candidate  for  President,  a 
popular  majority  of  250,000  over  Hayes,  and  elected 
156  Democrats  to  137  Republicans  to  the  House. 

The  reconstruction  policy  of  the  government  as 
administered  imder  Grant  became  specially  offensive 
to  many  of  the  most  thoughtful  Republicans,  while 
the  severe  factional  mastery  in  Grant's  administration 
alienated  many  others.  During  the  severe  pressure 
of  early  reconstruction,  while  a  very  large  proportion  of 
Republicans  disapproved,  of  the  radical  policy  adopted, 
they  felt  that  they  must  sustain  the  Republican  party 
imtil  it  had  completed  the  rehabilitation  of  the  States ; 
but  the  crop  of  adventurers  who  became  rulers  in  the 
recon,-;tructe(i  vStates  under  carpet-bag  power,  and  the 
low  grade  class  of  men  sent  to  the  Senate  and  House  by 


442 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  restored  States,  strengthened  and  widened  oppo- 
sition to  the  reconstruction  policy,  and  the  result  was 
that  in  1874,  in  the  middle  of  Grant's  second  adminis- 
tration, the  country  spoke  with  emphasis  against  the 
Republican  rule  of  that  day  by  electing  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  Democrats  to  the  House,  and  followed 
it  two  years  later  by  giving  a  quarter  of  a  million  popu- 
lar majority  to  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President. 

It  is  an  interesting  study  to  note  the  repeated  and 
emphatic  expressions  of  the  country  against  Repub- 
lican authority  for  many  years  after  the  revolution  of 
1874.  The  Democratic  majority  that  first  appeared 
in  the  Forty-fourth  Congress  was  maintained  in  the 
Forty-fifth  and  Forty-sixth  Congresses.  In  1880, 
w^hen  Garfield  was  elected  President  over  Hancock, 
the  Republicans  regained  the  House  by  a  small  majority, 
having  152  Republicans,  130  Democrats  and  11  Green- 
backers,  but  the  record  of  that  Congress,  in  which  the 
Republicans  dominated  both  branches,  was  so  offensive 
to  the  cotmtry  that  in  1882  the  Democrats  regained  the 
House  by  a  large  majority,  electing  200  Democrats  to 
119  Republicans  and  6  Greenbackers.  Two  years 
later,  in  1884,  the  Democrats  held  the  House  by  a 
smaller  majority,  having  183  to  139  Republicans  and 
3  Greenbackers,  and  in  1886  they  elected  to  the  Fiftieth 
Congress  169  Democrats  to  152  Republicans  and  4 
Independents. 

In  1888,  when  Harrison  was  elected  President,  the 
Republicans  regained  the  House  by  eight  majority, 
having  169  Republicans  to  161  Democrats,  but  in  1890, 
after  the  passage  of  the  McKinley  tariff  bill,  the  Dem- 
ocrats elected  to  the  Fifty-second  Congress  235  to  88 
Republicans  and  9  Farmers'  Alliance,  and  in  1892, 
when  Cleveland  was  recalled  to  the  Presidency,  they 
elected  to  the  Fifty-third  Congress  218  to  127  Repub- 
licans and  II  Independents.    Since  then  the  Repub- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


443 


licans  have  uniformly  controlled  the  popular  branch 
of  Congress,  but  from  1874  to  1894  the  Democrats  had 
a  majority  of  the  popular  branch  of  every  Congress  with 
the  exceptions  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress,  chosen  in 
1880,  and  the  Fifty-first,  chosen  in  1888.  The  Dem- 
ocrats controlled  the  Senate,  and  thus  both  branches, 
in  the  Forty- sixth  Congress,  when  they  had  43  Senators 
to  33  Republicans,  and  again  in  the  Fifty-third  Con- 
gress, chosen  in  1892,  the  Democrats  had  44  Senators 
to  37  Republicans  and  4  Independents.  Thus  only  in 
two  Congresses,  the  Forty-sixth  and  the  Fifty- third, 
have  the  Democrats  controlled  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress since  the  war. 

The  popular  vote  for  President,  beginning  in  1876, 
when  Tilden  had  a  popular  majority  of  250,000  over 
Hayes,  shows  the  serious  Republican  defection  that 
was  willing  to  accept  Democratic  authority  to  conserve 
and  restrain  the  abuses  of  Republican  power.  In  1880, 
Garfield,  the  Republican  candidate  for  President, 
had  less  than  10,000  popular  majority  over  Hancock. 
In  1884,  Cleveland  had  a  popular  majority  over  Blaine 
of  nearly  30,000.  In  1888,  when  Harrison  was  elected 
over  Cleveland  by  the  electoral  college,  Cleveland's 
popular  majority  over  Harrison  was  nearly  100,000,  and 
in  1892,  Cleveland  received  a  popular  majority  over 
Harrison  of  over  300,000.  Thus,  from  1876  to  1892, 
including  the  contests  of  both  those  years,  the  Repub- 
licans had  a  popular  majority  for  President  only  in  a 
single  instance,  and  that  was  the  nominal  majority 
of  Garfield  over  Hancock  in  1880. 

A  careful  study  of  these  elections  will  satisfy  any 
dispassionate  student  of  our  political  history  that, 
while  the  Democrats  have  many  times  given  popular 
majorities  in  National  and  congressional  contests, 
the  cotmtry  has  never  been  Democratic  since  the  war. 
In  four  National  contests  the  Democrats  gave  popular 


444 


Old  Time  Notes 


majorities  to  their  candidates  for  President,  but  the 
majorities  were  not  made  up  of  Democratic  votes. 
The  Democrats  have  won,  ahke  in  Pennsylvania  and  in 
the  Nation,  only  by  Republican  defection  that  empha- 
sized the  purpose  to  restrain  the  abuses  of  Republican 
power,  and  the  party  was  chastened  in  defeat  by  the 
deliberate  action  of  its  own  people.  Pennsylvania 
has  had  Democratic  Governors  and  other  State  officers 
since  the  war,  and  the  Nation  has  had  Democratic 
Presidents  and  gave  majorities  for  others  who  were 
not  elected,  but  they  have  never  won  either  a  State  or 
National  victory  wholly  by  Democratic  votes. 

The  contest  of  1876  was  a  memorable  struggle,  not 
only  because  it  was  one  of  the  most  earnestly  contested 
battles  of  our  political  history,  but,  also,  because  of 
the  reversal  of  the  popular  majority  by  the  electoral 
college,  whose  contested  seats  were  finally  decided  by 
an  electoral  commission  created  by  Congress.  Penn- 
sylvania had  re-elected  Hartranft  the  year  before  by 
a  comparatively  small  majority  that  was  worked  out 
by  the  very  shrewd  manipulation  of  the  Labor  and 
Greenback  organization  of  the  State,  and  the  Repub- 
licans felt  that  Pennsylvania  would  be  a  debatable 
State  in  a  National  contest.  There  were  no  State 
officers  to  be  chosen,  but  the  contest  for  Congressmen 
and  the  Legislature  was  fought  out  with  great  earnest- 
ness on  both  sides. 

Tilden's  advent  into  politics  presented  an  unusually 
brilliant  record.  He  was  a  severely  trained  and  tech- 
nical lawyer,  so  severely  technical  that  his  own  will 
was  successfully  contested  in  the  courts,  but  he  proved 
to  be  a  most  masterful  political  organizer.  The  Repub- 
licans had  made  a  shrewd  move  two  years  before  by 
nominating  General  Dix,  a  War  Democrat,  for  Gover- 
nor, and  thereby  saved  the  State.  Dix  made  a  highly 
creditable  administration,  but  Tilden  decided  to  make 


of  Pennsylvania 


445 


a  contest  for  the  Governorship  in  1874,  and  he  planned 
and  completed  the  most  perfect  organization  the  party 
had  ever  in  the  State,  by  which  he  not  only  nominated 
himself  for  Governor,  but  defeated  Dix  by  a  large 
majority.  As  soon  as  he  became  Governor,  he  started 
out  to  nominate  himself  for  President,  by  the  same 
method,  and  while  he  had  no  great  popular  following, 
although  commanding  the  respect  of  all  parties,  he  won 
his  nomination  with  ease  over  Governor  Hendricks, 
of  Indiana,  his  chief  competitor. 

Tilden  was  a  severe  cloister  student,  but  he  carefully 
studied  the  men  of  the  country,  and  he  had  as  his  chief 
lieutenant  in  Pennsylvania  William  L.  Scott,  of  Erie, 
one  of  the  ablest  Democratic  leaders  of  that  day,  who 
was  twice  elected  to  Congress  in  the  overwhelmingly 
Republican  district  of  Erie  and  Crawford.  Scott  was 
at  that  time  among  the  most  forceful  of  the  Democratic 
leaders  in  the  State  and  a  tireless  worker,  and  Tilden 
had  men  of  like  qualities  directing  the  battle  for  him 
in  all  of  the  States.  He  was  not  a  man  of  personal 
popular  qualities,  being  a  bachelor  student  whose  social 
attributes  were  neglected,  but  he  was  recognized  as 
one  of  the  ablest  of  our  National  leaders,  as  a  man  of 
imdoubted  integrity,  and  as  one  who  would  speedily 
and  surely  correct  the  then  serious  abuses  of  Repub- 
lican power. 

He  had  strongly  commended  himself  to  the  better 
class  of  the  people  of  all  parties  by  the  courage  he  ex- 
hibited in  taking  an  open  stand  for  the  exposure  and 
punishment  of  Tweed,  who  was  then  the  assumed  Dem- 
ocratic leader  of  city  and  State.  It  was  to  Tilden  more 
than  to  any  other  one  man  that  Tweed  owed  his  fall, 
and  for  that  reason,  and  also  because  of  his  generally 
reputable  character,  he  commanded  the  respect  of 
Republicans,  and  received  many  votes  from  the  reform 
element  ot  that  party.    Hayes  received  1 7,904  majority 


446 


Old  Time  Notes 


over  Tilden  in  Pennsylvania,  nearly  all  of  which  was 
given  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  The  Republicans 
carried  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  by  a  decided 
majority,  and  reversed  the  Democratic  majority  in 
the  congressional  delegation  that  was  elected  in  1874, 
giving  the  Republicans  seventeen  of  the  twenty-seven 
Congressmen. 

The  election  of  1876  brought  into  prominence  John 
1.  Mitchell,  of  Tioga  Coimty,  who  was  elected  to  Con- 
gress in  the  district  composed  of  Tioga,  Potter,  McKean, 
Cameron,  Lycoming  and  Sullivan.  He  had  served 
several  sessions  as  a  State  representative,  and  was  one 
of  the  prominent  leaders  of  that  body  before  he  retired 
from  it.  He  was  a  man  of  thoroughly  clean  reputa- 
tion, sternly  honest  in  public  and  private  life,  but  lacked 
the  keenness  of  perception  and  the  ability  to  lead  in  a 
fight  without  careful  preparation,  which  are  so  neces- 
sary in  a  brilliant  leader,  but  his  high  character  and 
genial  qualities  made  him  universally  respected,  and 
he  was  one  of  the  most  influential  members  of  the  body, 
although  lacking  rhetorical  attainments. 

His  nomination  for  Congress,  that  led  to  his  elec- 
tion, was  what  is  commonly  called  in  politics  an  acci- 
dent. The  acknowledged  Republican  leader  of  Tioga 
County  at  that  time  was  Butler  B.  Strang,  a  man  of 
unusual  ability,  always  ready  for  the  forensic  battle, 
no  matter  how  suddenly  precipitated,  and  in  both 
house  and  senate  he  was  accepted  as  the  ablest  lawyer 
of  the  body.  He  had  served  several  terms  in  the  house, 
from  whence  he  was  transferred  to  the  senate,  where 
his  term  ended  in  1876.  During  a  long  legislative 
service  I  saw  all  the  ablest  legislative  leaders  of  that 
period,  and  I  do  not  know  one  who  surpassed  Strang, 
either  in  strategy  or  debate.  He  served  in  the  senate 
with  such  distinguished  legal  luminaries  as  Wallace, 
Dill,  Yerkes,  White,  Rutan  and  others,  and  he  stood 


Of  Pennsylvania 


447 


fully  abreast  with  the  ablest  of  them,  and  his  admirable 
personal  qualities  attached  his  friends  to  him  with 
hooks  of  triple  steel. 

He  was  as  fearless  as  he  was  able,  and  it  was  his  mis- 
fortune to  offend  the  Cameron  power  that  was  domi- 
nant at  that  time.  He  was  too  great  to  take  orders 
from  any  political  or  personal  power,  and  his  promi- 
nence in  the  northern  section  of  the  State  was  a  con- 
stant menace  to  the  Cameron  mastery.  Had  Strang 
been  the  trained  and  tireless  political  manager  that 
Cameron  was,  he  could  have  dominated  his  district 
and  section  of  the  State,  but  the  one  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  both  Strang  and  Mitchell  was  their 
general  indifference  to  political  movements  even  in  their 
own  immediate  locality,  and  both  loved  the  ease  of 
indolence. 

Strang  confidently  expected  to  be  the  next  Congress- 
man from  Tioga  County,  and  his  ambition  would  have 
been  realized  had  he  understood  and  interposed  against 
the  far-reaching  management  of  Cameron.  It  was 
generally  conceded  that  Tioga  County  was  not  entitled 
to  the  Republican  candidate  for  Congress  in  1876, 
according  to  the  rule  of  rotation  that  generally  obtained 
in  the  rural  sections,  and  Strang  paid  no  attention, 
whatever,  to  the  congressional  matter,  believing  that 
the  county  could  not,  and  should  not,  receive  the  nomi- 
nation at  that  time;  but  when  the  county  convention 
met  Cameron's  friends  were  fully  advised  of  his  pur- 
poses, and  in  the  absence  of  Strang  as  a  candidate, 
the  name  of  Mitchell  was  proposed  to  the  convention 
for  what  was  generally  regarded  as  the  empty  compli- 
ment of  a  congressional  recommendation.  While  the 
convention  did  not  understand  it,  the  Cameron  mana- 
gers well  understood  what  it  meant,  and  when  Mitchell 
was  given  the  conferees  of  Tioga  County,  the  other 
counties  were  carefully  manipulated  by  Cameron's 


448 


Old  Time  Notes 


friends  to  nominate  Mitchell  as  the  district  candidate, 
and  thus,  for  a  decade  at  least,  preclude  the  possibility 
of  Strang's  congressional  aspirations  being  gratified. 

In  addition  to  this  shrewd  overthrow  of  Strang  in 
his  own  district,  Cameron  threw  himself  into  the  breach 
in  the  Republican  State  convention,  where  Strang  was 
a  candidate  for  State  treasurer,  and  his  nomination 
generally  conceded,  and  the  same  influence  and  methods 
which  were  employed  to  defeat  him  at  home  were 
employed  with  equal  success  in  the  State  convention, 
and  Strang  was  mortified  by  a  defeat  that  utterly 
astounded  himself  and  his  friends. 

Cameron  thus  succeeded  in  practically  ending  the 
political  power  of  Butler  B.  Strang,  who,  thereafter, 
was  comparatively  unknown  and  unfelt  in  the  politics 
of  his  section,  as  he  was  usually  not  an  aggressive  man, 
although  a  desperate  fighter  when  engaged  in  earnest 
conflict,  and  a  few  years  thereafter,  in  a  moment  of  that 
fearful  despondency  that  hurls  reason  from  her  throne, 
he  sent  the  death  bullet  into  his  own  brain  and  ended 
his  career  as  a  suicide.  Had  he  sought  the  nomina- 
tion for  Congress  in  his  county  in  1876,  it  would  have 
been  accorded  to  him  without  a  serious  contest,  but 
he  doubtless  would  have  been  defeated  for  the  nomina- 
tion in  the  district.  He  could  have  bided  his  time, 
however,  for  his  county  of  Tioga,  possessing  as  it  did 
more  than  the  entire  Republican  majority  of  the  dis- 
trict, could  not  have  been  long  denied  a  representative, 
and  had  Strang  entered  the  National  councils  his  record 
would  have  been  distinguished  among  the  able  repre- 
sentatives of  Pennsylvania. 

Mitchell  entered  Congress,  served  without  making 
his  impress  in  the  proceedings  of  that  body,  was  re- 
elected in  1878,  and  was  about  closing  a  four  years' 
term  of  service  in  February,  1881,  when  the  same  for- 
tuitous circumstances  which  had  sent  him  to  Congress 


Of  Pennsylvania 


440 


in  1876,  made  him  a  United  States  Senator,  although 
tinthought  of  as  a  candidate  until  after  the  Legislature 
had  become  involved  in  a  bitter  factional  contest. 
His  career  in  Congress  was  not  distinguished  for  either 
industry  or  participation  in  debate,  but  he  was  a 
straightforward,  honest  representative,  and  was  re- 
spected as  widely  as  he  was  known. 

I  happened  to  be  in  Washington  on  the  night  that  he 
was  agreed  upon  by  the  disputing  factions  at  Harris- 
burg  as  a  compromise  candidate  for  Senator,  and  was 
in  Mitchell's  room  engaged  at  a  game  of  whist  with 
him  and  two  others,  with  several  visiting  spectators. 
Colonel  Lambert  was  then  on  ''The  Times"  staff  with 
me,  and  was  at  Harrisburg  carefully  watching  the 
Senatorial  struggle.  His  high  character  and  attain- 
ments as  a  journalist,  and  his  admirable  personal 
qualities,  gave  him  access  to  the  inner  circles  of  all 
political  movements  then  as  they  do  to-day,  and  about 
half  past  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  when  engaged 
at  whist  with  Mitchell  and  our  partners,  a  telegram 
was  brought  to  me  from  Lambert,  stating  that  Mitchell 
had  been  agreed  upon  by  both  the  disputing  factions 
for  United  States  Senator,  and  would  be  elected  on 
the  following  day. 

I  handed  the  despatch  to  Mitchell,  and  with  equal 
surprise  and  delight  he  announced  it  to  the  others  in 
the  room,  whereupon  a  rush  was  made  to  congratulate 
him,  and  all  did  so  but  myself,  as  I  remained  seated  at 
the  table.  He  finally  turned  to  me  and  said:  "You 
are  the  only  one  who  has  not  congratulated  me."  I 
at  once  arose  and  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  told  him 
that  if  he  felt  equal  to  the  discharge  of  the  high  duties 
of  Senator  so  as  to  make  his  name  remembered  by  the 
Nation  when  he  retired  from  it,  he  was  to  be  congrat-^ 
ulated.  His  head  involuntarily  dropped  toward  his 
breast,  and  he  said:  "  McClure  is  right,  but  I  will  try. " 

a — 2  J 


Old  Time  Notes 


I  had  great  respect  and  much  affection  for  him,  and 
knew  that  his  election  to  the  Senate,  while  it  would 
make  a  stainless  record,  would  not  rank  him  among 
the  leaders  of  the  Nation.  He  was  just  in  the  prime 
of  life,  and  in  the  possession  of  perfect  physical  and 
mental  vigor,  but  who  of  all  the  men  who  have  carefully 
studied  the  records  of  the  first  legislative  tribtinal  of 
the  country  can  recall  a  single  monument  of  statesman- 
ship that  owes  its  creation  to  Senator  Mitchell  ?  He 
was  not  at  all  alone  in  his  class,  for  Pennsylvania  and 
many  other  States  have  repeatedly  sent  men  to  the 
United  States  Senate  whose  names  are  imknown  in 
the  important  annals  of  National  legislation. 

Mitchell  entered  the  Senate  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1 88 1,  and  his  first  and  only  great  utterance  or  move- 
mejit  that  he  made  in  either  politics  or  legislation  was 
in  leading  a  revolt  one  year  later  against  the  Cameron 
power  that  had  not  only  sent  him  to  Congress,  but  that 
had  made  him  the  compromise  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator,  as  in  the  factional  fight  in  the  Legisla- 
ture Cameron's  power  was  largely  dominant.  What 
particular  influence  led  him  to  make  a  revolution 
against  the  organization  of  the  party  has  never  been 
given  to  the  public.  That  he  was  honest  in  his  con- 
victions none  who  knew  him  could  doubt,  but  what 
special  provocation  made  a  man  who  had  studiously 
avoided  factional  warfare  throw  the  plume  of  his 
Senatorship  into  a  revolutionary  movement  not  only 
against  his  party,  but  against  the  men  who  h,ad  given 
him  the  most  important  positions  he  had  held,  seemed 
incomprehensible ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  he 
led  a  revolution  against  General  James  A.  Beaver, 
the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor,  a  man  of  the 
cleanest  record  and  the  sternest  integrity,  and  a 
gallant  and  maimed  soldier,  who  had  been  nominated 
without  a  serious  contest  in  the  State  convention,  his 


Of  Pennsylvania 


4SI 


revolutionary  action  seemed  even  more  difficult  of 
explanation. 

I  witnessed  the  nomination  of  General  Beavei',  and 
when  the  convention  adjourned  there  was  not  the  sign 
of  revolt  in  any  quarter.  There  was  not  a  cloud  visible 
even  so  large  as  a  man's  hand  on  the  political  horizon, 
and  the  members  of  that  convention  adjourned  with- 
out a  doubt  as  to  General  Beaver's  election.;  but 
suddenly  the  revolt  sprang  to  the  surface,  and  when 
it  was  led  by  a  Republican  United  States  Senator 
against  the  Cameron  rule  of  the  State,  the  movement 
was  quickened  in  every  section,  and  for  once  the  power 
of  Senator  Mitchell  was  felt  from  center  to  circum- 
ference of  the  State. 

I  saw  him  at  the  Independent  Republican  conven- 
tion, and  it  was  the  only  time  that  I  ever  saw  him 
thoroughly  aroused,  aggressive  and  defiant.  His  posi- 
tion and  environment  made  him  altogether  the  most 
important  factor  in  the  revolutionary  movement,  and 
brought  to  the  Independent  convention  a  very  large 
number  of  representative  Republicans  from  every  part 
of  the  State.  A  full  State  ticket  was  nominated  with 
Senator  (now  Judge)  Stewart,  of  Franklin,  for  Gover- 
nor. Stewart  had  been  the  leader  in  the  senate  in  the 
revolt  against  the  election  of  Oliver  and  others,  who, 
in  turn,  were  adopted  as  the  candidates  of  the  Cameron 
end  of  the  party  for  United  States  Senator,  and  when 
he  accepted  the  nomination  it  was  notice  that  the 
battle  of  the  revolutionists  would  be  made  a  fight  to 
the  finish. 

Stewart  canvassed  the  State,  as  did  Beaver  and 
Pattison,  and  the  struggle  became  one  of  desperation. 
There  was  no  hope,  whatever,  of  Stewart's  election,  and 
the  fact  that  his  candidacy  had  but  a  single  practical 
aim,  and  that  the  defeat  of  the  regular  Republican  State 
ticket,  made  many  of  the  Independent  Republicans 


45  2 


Old  Time  Notes 


vote  directly  for  Pattison  for  Governor  in  order  to 
assure  the  defeat  of  Beaver.  The  result  was  the  elec- 
tion of  Pattison,  by  a  plurality  nearly  equal  to  Stewart's 
vote,  and  the  entire  State  ticket,  including  candidates 
for  lieutenant  governor,  secretary  of  internal  affairs, 
supreme  judge  and  congressmen-at-large,  fell  with 
Beaver. 

After  this  grand  exhibition  of  aggressive  action  on  the 
part  of  Senator  Mitchell,  he  practically  retired  from 
participation  in  factional  conflict,  and  thereafter  acted 
generally  in  harmony  with  the  regular  organization, 
and  was  unfelt  in  the  party  leadership  of  the  State. 
He  was  imiversally  respected  and  very  generally 
beloved  at  home,  and  when  he  retired  from  the  Senate 
and  was  practically  without  power  in  the  general 
direction  of  the  politics  of  the  State,  he  announced 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  president  judge  in  his  home 
county,  and  although  his  opponent  was  the  Repub- 
lican incumbent  who  had  served  ten  years  with  general 
acceptability,  Mitchell  was  nominated  by  a  decided 
majority  and  became  president  judge  of  his  district. 

He  continued  in  that  position  tmtil  a  few  years  ago, 
when  a  vacancy  was  made  on  the  Republican  State 
ticket  by  the  enforced  withdrawal  of  the  candidate 
for  judge  of  the  superior  court,  when  Mitchell  was 
accepted  by  the  leaders  and  was  elected  to  the  second 
appellate  tribunal  of  the  State,  but  his  service  was 
very  brief  in  his  new  judicial  capacity,  as  paralysis 
suddenly  laid  him  low,  from  which  he  has  never  re- 
covered. For  a  considerable  period  after  he  became 
entirely  unfitted  for  the  performance  of  any  judicial 
duties  he  retained  his  position,  hoping  to  be  able  to 
resume  his  judicial  work,  but  finally  the  physical  wreck 
sadly  impaired  his  mental  powers,  and  he  was  retired 
from  the  bench  by  a  law  passed  chiefly  for  his  benefit. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


453 


XCII. 

ANARCHY  RULED  IN  1877. 

The  Darkest  Year  in  the  History  of  Pennsylvania — Culmination  of  the 
Revulsion  of  1873 — Business  Depressed  and  Working  Men  Without 
Bread — Anarchy  First  Asserted  Its  Mastery  in  Pittsburg  by  Destroy- 
ing Several  Millions  of  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Property — Took 
Possession  of  all  the  Railroads  of  the  State,  and  Generally  Through- 
out the  Country — Governor  Hartranft  Absent  in  the  West — Adjutant 
General  Latta  Rendered  Timely  and  Heroic  Service — Appalling 
Condition  in  Philadelphia — Mayor  Stokley  Calls  for  a  Committee 
of  Safety — The  Author  a  Member — Interesting  Incidents  in  Pre- 
serving Peace  in  the  City — Stokley's  Magnificent  Administration 
to  Preserve  Peace — Exceptional  Military  Service  Rendered  by  Col. 
Bonnafion's  Regiment. 

EIGHTEEN  hundred  and  seventy-seven  was  the 
darkest  year  of  the  last  half  century  in  the 
history  of  Pennsylvania.  The  excessive  in- 
flation, bewildering  extravagance,  and  tidal  wave  of 
speculation  which  had  prevailed  for  years  under  the 
immense  volume  of  depreciated  currency  during  the 
war  were  brought  to  a  halt  in  1873,  when  liquidation 
began.  At  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  country  were 
the  people  so  largely  and  so  generally  in  debt,  as  all 
channels  of  industry,  commerce  and  trade  had  been 
steadily  expanded  for  a  full  decade  from  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  and  all  intelligent  observers  of  the  situa- 
tion knew  that  a  terrible  reckoning  must  come,  but 
each  hoped  that  it  would  be  postponed  until  he  had 
reached  a  solid  financial  basis. 

When  the  revulsion  began  in  1873  i't  was  generally 
believed  that  it  would  be  only  temporary,  but  the 
liquidation  that  was  then  begun  continued  steadily 
and  relentlessly  until  it  culminated  in  1877,  when  most 


454 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  the  great  States  of  the  Union  were  plunged  into 
anarchy.  As  Hquidation  continued,  the  wages  of 
labor  were  reduced  when  the  industrial  classes  had  been 
enjoying  for  ten  years  the  most  prosperous  season 
they  had  ever  known,  and  had  naturally  drifted  into 
excessive  extravagance  in  imitation  of  the  people  of 
fortune  about  them.  The  severe  necessities  which 
were  felt  in  almost  every  home  restrained  expenditures, 
thus  largely  limiting  consumption,  resulting  in  the  en- 
forced limitation  of  products,  and  employment  of 
labor. 

Many  were  forced  into  bankruptcy  after  1873,  and 
when  1877  was  reached  the  general  business  depression 
and  paralysis  of  industry  was  more  general  than  at 
any  other  period  during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Labor  strikes  for  increase  of  wages  that 
it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the  employers  to  pay,  were 
common  in  all  the  great  centers  of  industry,  and  there 
were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  in  Pennsylvania 
without  bread  in  their  homes  to  satisfy  the  demands 
of  himger.  A  mob  exasperated  by  pinching  want  is 
not  only  always  unreasoning,  but  is  always  desperate 
and  revolutionary,  and  on  the  19th  of  July,  1877,  in 
the  city  of  Pittsburg,  the  rule  of  anarchy  began  when 
the  mob  took  possession  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
and  refused  to  allow  the  freight  trains  to  be  moved. 

Governor  Hartranft  was  in  the  far  West  on  a  visit 
to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  Adjutant  General  James  W. 
Latta  was  compelled  to  act  in  the  absence  of  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  on  application  of  the  sheriff  of  Allegheny 
County  for  military  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  peace, 
he  ordered  troops  to  Pittsburg.  The  appearance  of 
troops  upon  the  railway  called  out  the  revolutionary 
elements  along  the  entire  line  between  Philadelphia 
and  Pittsburg,  and  within  twenty-four  hours  the  rail- 
road was  practically  blocked  at  every  important  point 


of  Pennsylvania 


455 


between  the  two  great  cities.  The  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  was  also  seized  by  the  revolutionists,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  great  trunk  lines  to  the  far  West  were  abso- 
lutely in  the  hands  of  the  people,  who  were  inflamed  to 
the  point  of  anarchy. 

Philadelphia  passed  through  an  exceedingly  severe 
ordeal,  and  although  I  had  little  political  sympathy 
with  Mayor  Stokley,  I  regard  it  as  only  just  to  say  that 
the  preservation  of  the  public  peace  in  this  great  city 
was  due  almost  wholly  to  his  tmfaltering  courage  and 
wisely  directed  efforts  to  prevent  an  eruption  of  law- 
lessness. He  knew  the  people  of  the  city,  had  grown 
up  with  them,  and  he  specially  understood  the  class  of 
our  citizens  who  were  likely  to  be  inflamed  to  violence. 
The  only  power  exhibited  by  the  mob  in  the  city  was 
in  taking  possession  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
depot  in  West  Philadelphia,  from  which  point  all  trains 
were  then  started.  The  mob  held  possession  of  the 
depot  and  the  line  for  most  of  two  days,  but  it  was 
finally  suppressed  by  the  appearance  of  a  small  body 
of  regular  troops,  whose  presence  intimidated  the  rioters, 
as  they  had  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  willingness  of 
regular  troops  to  obey  orders  and  fire  upon  mobs  when 
necessary,  while  the  volunteer  troops  sent  to  Pittsburg 
and  other  points  of  the  State  greatly  inflamed  the 
rioters  and  provoked  them  to  desperate  lawlessness. 
In  no  instance  did  they  attempt  any  violent  move- 
ments in  the  presence  of  regular  troops. 

The  police  force  of  Mayor  Stokley  was  entirely  inade- 
quate to  the  emergency,  and  he  addressed  letters  to 
some  two  himdred  citizens  asking  them  to  meet 
promptly  at  the  mayor's  headquarters  to  consider  the 
best  methods  of  preserving  the  peace  of  the  city. 
Although  the  relations  between  the  mayor  and  myself 
were  then  somewhat  strained,  I  was  among  those  he 
invited  to  attend  that  meeting.    John  Welsh,  then 


456 


Old  Time  Notes 


perhaps  the  foremost  of  Philadelphia's  citizens,  was 
called  to  the  chair,  and  Mayor  Stokley  frankly  stated 
to  the  meeting,  held  with  closed  doors,  that  he  desired 
that  a  Committee  of  Safety  be  appointed  by  the  meet- 
ing to  consist  of  five  persons,  who  should  act  with  the 
mayor,  and  whose  judgment  he  could  freely  accept  in 
any  emergency  that  required  extraordinary  measures 
to  be  taken  for  the  protection  of  person  and  property. 
He  desired  that  the  judgment  of  this  committee  should 
be  full  warrant  for  him  to  take  any  measures  deemed 
necessary,  even  without  authority  of  law,  to  suppress 
violence  in  the  city.  The  meeting  promptly  decided 
to  comply  with  his  request,  and  charged  Mr.  Welsh 
with  the  duty  of  selecting  the  committee  of  which  he 
should  be  chairman.  The  mayor  gave  no  details  to 
the  meeting  of  the  conditions  in  the  several  sections  of 
the  city,  beyond  stating  that  violence  was  threatened 
in  different  localities. 

Before  the  meeting  was  held  he  had  issued  an  order 
forbidding  persons  to  congregate  anywhere  on  the 
streets,  and  his  police  were  privately  instructed  to  pre- 
vent any  meetings  in  the  disturbed  portions  of  the  city. 
His  policy  was  to  keep  the  revolutionary  elements 
scattered  and  ignorant  of  their  strength,  and  in  that 
he  was  eminently  wise,  for  had  the  revolutionary  ele- 
ments of  the  city  known  their  strength  they  could  have 
precipitated  Philadelphia  into  anarchy  in  an  hour.  He 
had  also  given  private  instruction  to  the  officers  of 
several  regiments  of  the  city  to  be  ready  to  march  at 
the  shortest  notice,  and  to  guard  against  extreme  con- 
ditions he  had  a  boat  on  the  Schuylkill,  and  another 
on  the  Delaware,  laden  with  ammunition,  so  that  the 
military  could  be  supplied  even  if  the  depositories  of 
ammunition  were  destroyed. 

When  the  meeting  adjourned  I  thought  it  due  to  Mr. 
Welsh  to  advise  him  not  to  think  of  me  as  a  member  of 


of  Pennsylvania 


457 


that  committee,  and  I  told  him  privately  that  my 
relations  with  the  mayor  were  not  such  as  would  make 
it  agreeable  for  him  to  have  me  serve  in  that  capacity. 
I  went  to  my  office,  but  was  not  there  more  than  thirty 
minutes  when  I  received  a  notice  from  the  mayor  that 
I  was  appointed  one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and 
my  presence  was  required  at  his  office  at  once.  I  was 
greatly  surprised,  but  it  was  a  call  that  could  not  be 
disobeyed,  and  I  hurriedly  returned  to  the  mayor's 
office,  where  Mr.  Welsh  informed  me  that  he  had 
appointed  me  in  obedience  to  the  special  request  of  the 
mayor  himself,  thus  relieving  me  of  all  embarrassment 
in  entering  upon  the  responsible  duties.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  consisted  of  John  Welsh,  ex- Mayor 
McMichael,  ex- Mayor  Fox,  Senator  Cochran  and  my- 
self, and  when  we  had  gathered  in  the  mayor's  office  we 
were  all  startled  at  the  condition  of  affairs  in  our  city. 
While  imder  Mayor  Stokley's  admirable  use  of  his 
police  to  prevent  any  gatherings  whatever  in  any  part 
of  the  city,  there  was  every  indication  on  the  surface 
of  a  peaceful  and  quiet  community,  the  mayor  informed 
us  how  difficult  it  had  been  for  him  up  to  that  time  to 
keep  the  revolutionary  elements  apart,  and  to  prevent 
the  city  from  being  plunged  into  anarchy.  He  stated 
all  the  precautions  he  had  taken,  in  which  he  had  acted 
with  great  intelligence  and  firmness,  and  said  that  the 
first  need  of  the  city  was  to  double  its  police  force, for 
which  he  had  no  lawful  authority.  He  stated,  how- 
ever, that  any  means  necessary  to  preserve  the  public 
peace  would  be  employed  by  him  regardless  of  their 
lawfulness  if  approved  by  the  Committee  of  Safety. 

The  committee  at  once  -unanimously  authorized  him 
to  double  the  police  force,  then  consisting  of  but  little 
more  than  a  thousand  men  in  the  entire  city.  My  first 
awakening  to  the  actual  situation  in  Philadelphia  was 
caused  by  a  reply  that  Mayor  Stokley  made  to  my  sug- 


458 


Old  Time  Notes 


gestion  that  there  were  thousands  of  intelligent  and 
law-abiding  skilled  laborers  of  the  city  who  were  without 
employment,  and  who  doubtless  would  be  very  willing 
to  be  taken  on  the  police  force.  The  mayor's  answer 
was  that  we  had  plenty  of  the  very  class  I  had  described, 
many  of  whom  owned  their  own  homes,  and  who  were 
without  employment,  but  while  they  would  not  join 
in  revolutionary  proceedings  themselves,  they  could 
not  be  induced  to  employ  force  to  restrain  the  starving 
laborers  who  had  been  inflamed  into  riotous  action  by 
the  few  vicious  spirits  who  are  ever  ready  in  a  com- 
munity to  incite  to  lawlessness. 

At  first  blush  the  task  of  obtaining  a  thousand 
capable  and  faithful  policemen  seemed  next  to  impos- 
sible, but  the  mayor  suggested  that  they  should  be 
found  in  the  ranks  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
He  paid  what  I  have  ever  regarded  as  the  highest 
tribute  ever  paid  by  any  one  to  the  veterans  of  our 
civil  war,  when  he  said  that  there  was  not  a  Union 
soldier  who  had  served  with  credit  in  the  army,  how- 
ever poor,  or  however  dissolute,  who  could  not  be 
trusted  to  enforce  law  and  order  in  the  community 
against  all  classes  and  conditions.  The  result  was  that 
the  police  force  in  the  city  was  promptly  doubled,  and 
chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  from  the  ranks  of  the  Grand 
Army,  and  not  one  of  the  men  thus  called  to  duty  failed 
to  give  honest  and  faithful  service  to  the  city. 

In  one  of  the  uptown  sections  of  the  city  there  was 
very  serious  disturbance,  and  systematic  efforts  were 
made  by  a  few  ringleaders  to  precipitate  a  riot,  in  imi- 
tation of  the  mastery  of  anarchy  in  Pittsburg.  The 
police  officer  in  charge  of  that  section  was  present  at 
the  first  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  gave 
a  detailed  account  of  the  danger  of  a  breach  of  the 
peace  being  precipitated  that  night.  The  mayor  very 
coolly  asked  him  whether  he  knew  the  man  or  men  who 


of  Pennsylvania  459 


were  studiously  seeking  to  inaugurate  lawlessness,  to 
which  the  policeman  answered  that  he  did;  that  one 
man  was  the  leader  of  the  whole  movement,  and  he 
was  tireless  in  his  efforts  to  precipitate  revolution.  The 
mayor  quietly  remarked  to  his  police  officer  that  he 
should  have  a  good  force  on  hand,  and  that,  if  any 
riotous  action  was  forced  upon  him,  he  should  see  that 
the  right  person  or  persons  were  killed.  The  policeman 
seemed  to  understand  the  mayor  perfectly,  and  bowed 
himself  out. 

On  the  following  morning  the  same  officer  made  his 
report  in  the  presence  of  the  mayor  and  the  committee, 
and  he  stated  that  a  riot  had  been  started  in  his  section, 
but  that  the  ringleader  was  killed  before  it  had  attained 
any  great  importance,  and  that  the  lawless  elements 
were  then  easily  controlled.  The  mayor  thanked  the 
police  officer,  and  he  again  bowed  himself  out.  Who 
had  killed  the  man  was  never  inquired  into,  and  the 
newspapers  simply  stated  that  a  riot  had  been  started 
in  one  of  the  uptown  sections  of  Philadelphia,  and  that 
one  man  was  killed,  but  the  policeman  certainly  could 
have  told  by  whom  and  how  the  rioter  had  fallen. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  Committee  of 
Safety  met  with  Stokley,  when  he  was  invested  by  the 
committee  with  dictatorial  powers,  he  had  the  city  so 
completely  under  control  that  an  outbreak  was  simply 
an  impossibility.  He  was  greatly  fretted  that  the 
railway  depot  was  held  so  long  by  a  mob,  and  he  was 
restrained  from  going  to  the  depot  on  a  locomotive  with 
the  engineer  to  move  a  train  out  of  the  city,  only  by 
the  earnest  protest  of  the  committee  against  thus 
imperilling  his  own  life.  The  committee  met  with  him 
three  times  each  day  for  more  than  a  week,  when  the 
regular  municipal  authorities  were  entirely  equal  to 
maintaining  the  public  peace.  It  made  no  record  of  its 
proceedings,  and  neither  the  newspapers  nor  the  pubhc 


460 


Old  Time  Notes 


sought  to  know  what  measures  had  been  adopted. 
There  were  many  important  facts  brought  before  the 
committee  which  were  certainly  not  proper  for  public 
information,  but  all  these  have  no  place  in  history,  and 
the  writer  is  the  only  one  of  the  six  men  who  assumed 
dictatorial  power  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  of 
the  city  who  is  yet  among  the  living. 

Mayor  Stokley  had  held  important  public  positions, 
and  was  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  of  his  party  in  the 
city,  but  he  was  one  of  the  few  men  in  important  muni- 
cipal trust  who  had  never  enriched  himself  directly  or 
indirectly  by  official  power,  and  he  was  not  a  man  of 
fortune.  On  the  day  that  the  Committee  of  Safety 
adjourned  finally,  I  returned  to  "The  Times"  office 
and  drew  a  subscription  paper  to  raise  a  fimd  to  be 
given  to  Mayor  Stokley  as  a  tribute  to  the  exceptionally 
great  service  he  had  rendered  the  community  when 
threatened  with  anarchy.  Within  a  few  days  $10,000 
was  subscribed  and  paid,  and  that  fund  was  delivered 
to  Mayor  Stokley  by  Mr.  McLaughlin,  the  publisher  of 
''The  Times,"  and  he  gratefully  accepted  it.  I  have 
heard  that  another  fund  was  raised  by  some  of  the 
financial  institutions  of  the  city,  but  I  cannot  speak 
advisedly  on  the  subject.  Had  ten  times  ten  thousand 
been  contributed  and  paid  to  Mayor  Stokley,  it  would 
not  have  been  in  excess  of  his  just  deserts. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  mayor  I  earnestly 
urged  the  nomination  of  Mayor  Stokley  for  re-election 
by  the  Committee  of  One  Himdred,  and  that  was  ac- 
complished. There  were  no  conditions  imposed  upon 
him  that  he  could  not  have  consistently  accepted,  and 
he  was  more  than  willing  to  have  the  endorsement  of 
the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  with  the  regular  Repub- 
lican nomination,  but  the  Republican  leaders  were 
smarting  under  wounds  which  had  been  inflicted  by  the 
Committee  of  One  Hundred  in  former  political  contests, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


461 


and  they  were  imperative  in  demanding  that  the  mayor 
should  reject  the  nomination  of  the  Committee  of  One 
Hundred.  I  called  on  the  mayor  and  appealed  to  him 
not  to  reject  the  support  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hun- 
dred, not  only  because  it  would  endanger  his  election, 
but  because  it  would  deny  him  the  opportimity  to  con- 
duct his  next  administration  on  a  higher  and  better 
plane,  and  command  the  confidence  of  the  entire  com- 
mimity.  He  earnestly  desired  to  do  so,  but  the  leaders, 
each  of  whom  had  been  humiliated  by  defeats  given 
them  by  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  were  imperi- 
ous in  demanding  that  their  candidate  for  mayor  could 
not  accept  the  nomination  of  the  Committee,  and 
threatened  him  with  disastrous  defeat  if  he  disregarded 
their  appeal.  He  informed  me  that  he  was  compelled 
most  reluctantly  to  decline  the  nomination  of  the  com- 
mittee to  maintain  the  unity  of  his  party. 

The  result  was  that  the  Democrats  and  the  com- 
mittee nominated  Samuel  G.  King  for  mayor,  and  John 
Himter,  an  Independent  Republican,  for  receiver  of 
taxes,  and  the  newspaper  I  then  conducted  had  no 
choice  but  to  separate  from  Stokley  and  support  the 
King  and  Htmter  ticket.  Stokley  suffered  a  humiliat- 
ing defeat,  as  King  was  chosen  by  over  5,000,  and 
Htinter  by  a  largely  increased  majority.  Stokley 
afterwards  served  very  creditably  as  director  of  public 
safety,  tmder  Mayor  Fitler,  and  while  many  criticised 
his  violent  political  methods,  he  lived  respected  by  all 
for  his  personal  integrity,  and  died  widely  lamented. 

The  story  of  the  mastery  of  mob  rule  in  Pittsburg, 
in  1877,  when  property  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
Company,  to  the  value  of  some  $4,000,000,  was  fired  and 
destroyed  by  the  mob,  need  not  be  repeated  in  detail. 
The  chief  reason  for  the  more  violent  eruption  of 
anarchy  in  Pittsburg  than  elsewhere  was  the  lingering 
prejudice  in  that  commimity  against  the  railroad,  that 


462 


Old  Time  Notes 


had  been  created  by  the  long  struggle  of  a  large  majority 
of  the  community,  and  many  of  the  officials  of  the 
coimty,  to  accomplish  the  repudiation  of  a  debt  the 
county  had  assumed  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the 
railway.  So  violent  and  dominating  was  the  repudi- 
ation movement  that  the  commissioners  of  the  county 
preferred  to  go  to  prison  for  contempt  of  court  rather 
than  obey  the  order  of  the  court  to  levy  taxes  for  the 
payment  of  the  interest  on  the  debt,  and  the  struggle 
was  maintained  in  the  courts  for  many  years.  The 
children  of  that  day  were  taught  that  the  people  were 
being  robbed  by  the  railroad  corporation,  and  when 
they  grew  up  to  manhood  they  did  not  forget  it. 

The  sheriff,  being  imable  to  maintain  the  peace,  called 
upon  the  Governor  for  the  military  to  aid  him  in  pre- 
serving order,  and  the  trouble  became  so  serious  in 
different  sections  along  the  line  of  the  road,  and  in  the 
anthracite  coal  region,  where  the  miners  were  on  a 
strike,  that  practically  the  entire  military  force  of  the 
State  was  called  out.  There  were  ten  major  generals, 
whose  divisions  were  presumably  in  service  to  maintain 
the  peace  in  Pennsylvania,  as  the  adjutant  general's 
report  of  that  year  contains  the  reports  of  the  ten  major 
generals,  detailing  the  service  rendered  by  their  respec- 
tive divisions.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  a  very 
large  portion  of  the  militia  did  not  respond  to  the  call. 
Most  of  the  privates  were  working  men,  who  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  mob  spirit  that  was  rife  at  the  time, 
and  some  of  the  soldiers  who  appeared  for  service 
threw  down  their  arms  and  fraternized  with  the  mob 
when  they  came  in  contact  with  the  rioters.  Enough 
faithful  soldiers,  however,  were  brought  into  service 
to  restore  the  State  to  comparative  tranquillity  within 
two  weeks,  but  not  imtil  after  a  number  of  the  rioters 
and  some  of  the  soldiers  were  killed  or  wotmded. 

It  was  a  costly  experience  for  Allegheny  County,  as 


of  Pennsylvania 


463 


under  the  law  of  that  time  the  coimty  was  responsible 
for  any  property  destroyed  by  the  mob,  and  after  the 
attempt  at  legislation  to  reimburse  the  loss  from  the 
State  treasury  that  resulted  in  disaster  and  scandal, 
the  matter  was  finally  adjusted  by  Allegheny  Cotmty 
paying  nearly  $3,000,000  for  the  property  destroyed. 

While  many  of  the  military  called  out  to  suppress  dis- 
order behaved  with  great  gallantry,  the  one  military 
organization  that  stands  out  distinct  from  all  others, 
alike  in  its  promptness  in  responding  to  the  call  of  the 
Governor  and  in  its  faithful  performance  of  every  duty 
assigned  to  it,  was  what  was  known  as  the  Twentieth 
Regiment, organized  in  Philadelphia  by  Colonel  Sylvester 
Bonnaffon,  Jr.  The  adjutant  general  in  his  report 
stated  that  the  emergency  was  great  for  an  additional 
military  force  of  thoroughly  reliable  men,  and  in  re- 
sponse to  Colonel  Bonnaffon  s  proposition  to  raise  a 
regiment  of  veterans  it  was  promptly  accepted,  and  in 
the  adjutant  general's  report  he  said  of  this  regiment: 
"  It  was  recruited  in  thirty-six  hours,  fully  clothed  by 
the  contributions  of  patriotic  citizens,  armed  by  the 
State,  and  in  fifty-six  hours  from  the  time  recruiting 
was  commenced  it  was  on  duty  at  Pittsburg." 

It  was  made  up  of  veteran  soldiers  of  the  Civil  War, 
and  so  valuable  were  its  services,  and  the  courage,  skill 
and  discretion  of  Colonel  Bonnaffon  as  commander, 
that  after  its  service  in  Pittsburg  it  was  transferred  to 
the  anthracite  coal  region,  where  it  held  the  disorderly 
elements  in  check,  and  it  was  the  last  of  the  military 
organizations  called  into  service  released  from  duty. 

Colonel  Bonnaffon  was  as  modest  as  he  was  brave 
and  skillful,  and  while  many  others  reaped  rich  rewards 
for  their  services,  he  gathered  no  fruits  for  the  heroic 
record  he  had  made,  beyond  the  highest  encomiums 
from  his  superior  officers,  and  the  sincerest  expression 
of  thanks  from  the  leading  citizens  of  Wilkes-Barre  to 


464 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  soldier  who  had  given  peace  and  protection  to  the 
community.  He  has  long  held  the  responsible  position 
of  cashier  of  customs  in  the  port  of  Philadelphia,  and 
his  handled  hundreds  of  millions  of  government  money 
with  scrupulous  fidelity.  He  suffered  severe  wounds 
during  the  Civil  War,  which  have  caused  and  ever  will 
cause  him  much  suffering,  and  he  is  one  of  the  very  few 
pensioners  who,  when  called  to  official  position  by  the 
government  with  ample  salary  for  his  livelihood,  has 
uniformly  covered  his  pension  check  back  to  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States,  thereby  presenting  an 
example  that  should  be  imitated  by  every  pensioner 
who  is  given  official  position  by  the  government  with 
adequate  salary  for  the  support  of  himself  and  family. 


of  Pennsylvania 


465 


XCIII. 

THE  GREAT  OIL  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  Humble  Beginning  of  a  Trade  that  has  Risen  to  Hundreds  of  Mil- 
lions— Professor  Silliman's  Chemical  Investigation  of  Petroleum — 
Colonel  E.  L.  Drake  Sank  the  First  Oil  Well— His  Difficulty  in 
Raising  One  Thousand  Dollars  to  Start  the  Oil  Development — He 
was  More  than  a  Year  in  Getting  His  Well  Completed — Representa- 
tive Rouse  Regarded  as  a  Hopeless  Crank  by  his  Fellow  Legislators 
in  1859 — The  Tidal  Wave  of  Speculation  in  Oil  Companies,  Result- 
ing in  Sweeping  Disaster — Desperate  Battles  of  the  Oil  Men  to 
Reach  Markets — The  Annual  Oil  Product  Now  Over  One  Hundred 
Million  Barrels — At  First  Worth  Twenty  Dollars  a  Barrel;  now 
Worth  One  Dollar  or  Less. 

ONE  of  the  most  marvelous  developments  of  the 
mineral  resources  of  Pennsylvania  during  the 
half  century  just  closing,  was  that  of  the  petro- 
leum industry.  As  an  article  of  commerce  and  universal 
use,  petroleum  was  unknown  fifty  years  ago.  The  ex- 
istence of  petroleum  springs  in  Western  New  York, 
Western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia  had  been 
known  to  the  Indians  for  many  generations,  and  to 
the  white  settlers  for  at  least  a  century.  But  that  it 
was  stored  in  great  rock  reservoirs  ready  to  gush  forth 
by  the  thousands  of  barrels  daily  at  the  magic  touch 
of  the  artesian  drill,  had  never  been  dreamed  of. 

An  oil  called  ''kerosene"  had  been  manufactured 
for  several  years  prior  to  1855  from  bituminous  shales, 
and  the  increasing  use  and  demand  for  this  illuminant 
prompted  chemical  investigation  of  some  specimens 
of  petroleum  secured  from  springs  along  Oil  Creek. 
Professor  B.  Silliman,  Jr.,  professor  of  chemistry  in 
Yale  College,  completed  a  thorough  analysis  of  some 
petroleum  taken  from  a  spring  on  Oil  Creek  nearly 


2 — 30 


466 


Old  Time  Notes 


two  miles  south  of  Titusville,  at  nearly  the  identical 
location  where,  four  years  later,  the  first  successful 
petroleiim  well  was  drilled  by  the  late  Colonel  E.  L. 
Drake.  In  his  report  upon  this  analysis,  v/hich  was 
published  in  the  spring  of  1855,  Professor  Silliman 
said,  ''The  crude  oil  vv^as  tried  as  a  means  of  illumination. 
For  this  purpose  a  weighed  quantity  was  decomposed 
by  passing  it  through  a  wrought  iron  retort  filled  with 
carbon  and  ignited  to  redness.  It  produced  nearly 
pure  carburetted  hydrogen  gas.  the  most  highly  illum- 
inating of  all  carbon  gases.  In  fact,  the  oil  may  be 
regarded  as  chemically  identical  with  illuminating  gas 
in  a  liquid  form.  It  burned  with  an  intense  flame. 
Compared  with  gas  the  rock  oil  gave  more  light  than 
any  burner  except  the  costly  argand,  consuming  two 
feet  of  gas  per  hour.  These  photometric  experiments 
have  given  the  oil  a  much  higher  value  as  an  illumina- 
tor than  I  had  dared  to  hope. ' '  Until  this  time  the  oil 
had  been  collected  from  the  surface  of  the  springs  and 
sold  in  small  bottles  as  a  medicine,  under  the  name  of 
Seneca  Oil,  the  name  being  derived  from  the  Seneca 
Indians,  who  had  been  the  first  to  collect  it  and  utilize 
it  for  medicinal  purposes.  Professor  Silliman 's  analy- 
sis four  years  in  advance  of  its  discovery  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  be  of  real  commercial  value  had  deter- 
mined its  principal  use  in  the  future,  although  he 
probably  was  not  aware  of  this  at  the  time. 

Silliman 's  report  attracted  wide  attention,  and  a 
company  was  soon  organized  with  a  capital  of  a  quarter 
of  a  million  dollars,  to  purchase  lands  and  erect  such 
machinery  as  might  be  required  to  collect  all  the  oil  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  spring  from  whence  the  test  sample 
had  been  taken.  Even  at  this  time,  however,  the  most 
sanguine  promoters  of  the  plan  to  develop  the  petroleum 
industry  had  not  dreamed  of  boring  artesian  wells  to 
tap  subterranean  deposits  of  the  fluid.    Their  only  idea 


Of  Pennsylvania 


467 


was  to  develop  and  utilize  to  the  ftillest  possible  extent 
the  product  of  the  various  surface  springs  which  were 
known  to  exist.  One  result,  however,  of  the  agitation 
was  the  employment  of  Colonel  Edwin  L.  Drake  to 
visit  the  property  near  Titusville  and  make  a  report  of 
the  best  means  of  securing  paying  quantities  of  oil. 
Stopping  on  his  way  from  New  Haven,  to  view  the  salt 
wells  of  Syracuse,  Colonel  Drake  visited  Titusville  near 
the  close  of  1857.  Remaining  a  few  days  to  transact 
legal  business  and  examine  the  lands,  he  proceeded  to 
Pittsburg,  visiting  the  salt  wells  at  Tarentum,  on  the 
way.  The  salt  wells  at  Syracuse  and  Tarentum  gave 
him  the  idea  of  boring  for  oil,  and  he  hastened  back  to 
Connecticut  to  conclude  a  scheme  of  operating  the 
property.  Provided  with  a  fund  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars as  a  starter,  Drake  was  engaged  at  a  thousand 
dollars  a  year  to  begin  operations,  and  arrived  in  Titus- 
ville early  in  May,  1858.  So  inexperienced  v/as  he, 
however,  in  the  art  of  drilling  wells,  and  so  many  diffi- 
culties and  discouragements  did  he  encounter,  that  it 
was  not  until  August  28,  1859,  ^  year  and  a  third  after 
he  had  arrived  at  his  post  to  begin  the  work,  that  the 
drill  had  reached  the  depth  of  seventy  feet  and  pierced 
the  rock  deposit  in  which  the  stored  petroleum  had 
been  waiting  for  ages.  A  twenty -barrel  well  had  been 
tapped,  and  the  foundation  of  the  great  oil  industry, 
which  has  since  grown  to  an  annual  value  of  more  than 
one  hundred  millions,  had  been  laid. 

When  oil  was  first  developed  in  Venango  County  by 
boring  wells,  most  of  those  engaged  in  the  enterprise 
became  enthusiastic  over  the  measure  of  wealth  they 
expected  to  realize,  but  the  public  generally  regarded 
the  whole  scheme  as  unpromising.  I  well  remember 
serving  as  a  representative  at  Harrisburg  in  1859  with 
Mr.  Rouse,  a  member  from  Venango,  who  was  one  of 
the  earliest  pioneers  in  oil  development.    He  had  half 


468 


Old  Time  Notes 


a  dozen  small  vials  of  different  qualities  of  oil  in  his 
pocket,  and  soon  was  regarded  by  his  associates  gener- 
ally in  the  house  as  an  unbalanced  crank  on  the  oil 
question.  He  was  constantly  telling  us,  like  Mulberry 
Sellers,  that  ''there's  millions  in  it,"  but  he  could  not 
induce  one  of  his  associates  to  invest  a  dollar  in  oil 
development.  He  was  an  intelligent  and  enterprising 
man,  and  had  studied  the  question  as  thoroughly  as  it 
was  possible  then  to  master  it,  and  in  a  very  few  years 
he  acquired  a  large  fortune  from  his  oil  wells,  but  his 
life  work  was  cut  short  when  one  of  his  flowing  wells 
suddenly  took  fire  when  he  was  close  to  it,  and  his  life 
was  given  in  a  struggle  with  the  flames.  He  was  a 
bachelor  without  kith  or  kin  about  him,  and  his  entire 
fortune  was  equally  divided  between  the  improvement 
of  the  reads  of  the  county  and  the  support  of  the 
poor. 

In  this  connection  some  comparative  figures  will  be 
interesting.  The  total  production  of  oil  for  the  year 
1859  was  1,873  barrels,  which  brought  an  average  price 
of  twenty  dollars  a  barrel.  The  following  year,  i860,  the 
production  increased  to  547,439  barrels,  at  an  average 
price  of  $9.60  per  barrel,  the  lowest  monthly  price  being 
$2.75.  In  1 86 1,  the  year  of  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War,  the  Empire  and  other  large  wells  producing 
thousands  of  barrels  a  day  each  were  struck.  The 
production  for  the  year  went  up  to  2,119,045  barrels, 
and  the  price  went  down  to  ten  cents  a  barrel.  The 
process  of  refining  the  oil  for  general  use  had  not  as  yet 
been  perfected,  and  the  market  was  flooded  with  oil  for 
which  there  were  no  purchasers.  Getting  it  to  market 
was  also  a  costly  as  well  as  tedious  process.  Railroads 
had  not  yet  penetrated  the  oil  country,  and  pipe  lines 
were  unknown.  The  favorite  method  of  getting  the  oil 
from  the  wells  to  where  it  could  find  purchasers  and 
consumers  was  by  loading  it  into  flat  boats,  which  were 


Of  Pennsylvania 


469 


floated  out  of  Oil  Creek  by  a  series  of  artificial  floods, 
called  ''pond  freshets,"  and  so  down  the  Allegheny 
River  to  Pittsburg.  In  the  dry  midsummer  season, 
when  there  was  too  little  water  for  flat  boat  navigation, 
the  oil  was  hauled  in  barrels  over  a  series  of  miserable 
country  roads  to  Meadville  and  other  points  along  the 
Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway,  a  distance  of 
thirty  miles.  This  was  merely  a  temporary  stage  of 
the  development  of  the  great  oil  industry,  however. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  in  1861 , 
and  the  low  price  of  petroleum  at  that  time,  incident  to 
a  rapidly  increasing  production,  and  the  crude  and 
costly  processes  of  refining  and  marketing  the  oil, 
tended  for  a  short  time  to  check  the  development  of 
the  petroleum  industry.  This  check  was  only  tem- 
porary, for  the  output  of  the  flowing  wells  already 
tapped  inspired  railway  building,  and  in  a  short  time 
one  branch  of  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway 
was  constructed  from  Meadville  to  Franklin,  and  later 
to  Oil  City.  Another  branch  was  laid  from  Corry  to 
Titusville,  and  extended  first  to  Miller  Farm,  six  miles 
below,  on  Oil  Creek,  and  then  to  Shaffer  Farm,  a  mile 
further  toward  Oil  City,  which  was  the  terminus  of  this 
branch  for  several  years.  This  left  a  ten-mile  stretch 
of  the  Oil  Creek  Valley  from  Shaffer  Farm  to  Oil  City 
still  without  a  railroad,  but  with  railroad  privileges  at 
either  extremity;  the  product  of  this  rich  producing 
region  was  easily  handled  from  either  direction,  for  oil 
could  be  towed  up  the  stream  in  flat  boats  by  horse 
power  as  well  as  floated  down  the  stream  with  the 
current.  With  these  improved  transportation  facil- 
ities and  a  gradually  perfected  system  of  refining,  the 
market  for  petroleum  steadily  expanded.  Long  before 
the  close  of  the  Rebellion,  it  became  an  important 
source  of  revenue  to  the  Federal  government,  Congress 
levying  a  tax  for  war  purposes  of  twenty  cents  a  gallon 


470 


Old  Time  Notes 


upon  refined  oil,  and  one  dollar  per  barrel  upon  crude. 
Practically  all  the  oil  refined  in  the  country  paid  this 
double  tax,  only  that  which  was  exported  in  the  crude 
form  escaping  the  tax  upon  refined. 

With  the  advance  in  the  price  of  oil  due  to  improved 
methods  of  transportation  and  refining,  an  era  of  wild 
speculation  set  in.  Fabulous  fortunes  were  made  in  a 
year  by  such  fortunate  operators  as  Orange  Noble, 
George  B.  Delamater,  Dr.  M.  C.  Egbert,  the  Phillips 
Brothers,  and  the  owners  of  the  Benninghoff,  Tarr, 
McClintock,  Rynd,  and  other  farms,  the  names  of  which 
became  household  words  the  country  over.  Promoters 
and  speculators  swarmed  through  Venango,  Crawford, 
Warren  and  Forest  counties,  buying  and  leasing  lands 
without  regard  to  their  location,  and  in  most  instances 
with  no  evidence  that  oil  was  to  be  found  beneath  them. 
With 'these  land  purchases  and  leases  as  a  basis,  hun- 
dreds of  stock  companies  were  formed  and  the  stocks 
sold  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg  and  every- 
where where  men  and  women  with  small  or  large  sav- 
ings could  be  induced  to  invest  upon  a  promise  of 
becoming  millionaires  within  a  year.  The  depreciated 
and  superabundant  currency  of  the  war  period  greatly 
stimulated  this  speculative  fever.  Everybody  had 
money,  and  very  few  believed  that  it  would  prove 
stable  in  value.  They  were  quite  willing  to  exchange 
it  for  something  that  promised  substantial  wealth,  and 
thus  it  came  to  pass  that  during  the  period  from  1862 
until  1865,  when  this  petroleum  stock  company  bubble 
finally  burst,  there  were  very  few  people  east  of  the 
Allegheny  River  and  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line, 
with  surplus  means  at  command,  who  were  not  owners 
of  some  of  this  oil  stock.  Except  in  a  few  instances  in 
which  capable  business  men  were  placed  at  the  head  of 
these  oil  producing  corporations,  these  stock  schemes 
proved  failures,  enriching  only  the  promoters  who 


of  Pennsylvania 


471 


floated  and  sold  the  stocks.  The  most  successful  com- 
pany of  this  period  was  known  as  the  Columbia  Oil 
Company,  a  Pittsburg  corporation,  of  v/hich  Andrew 
Carnegie,  then  just  beginning  to  come  into  prominence, 
was  a  stockholder.  The  great  majority  of  these  com- 
panies were  neither  honestly  organized  nor  intelligently 
administered,  the  purpose  of  their  founders  being 
merely  to  enrich  themselves  by  stock  sales,  leaving 
their  deluded  shareholders  to  make  the  best  of  their 
foolish  bargains.  A  farm  costing  four  or  five  thousand 
dollars,  upon  which  there  were  no  oil  wells  and  no 
promise  that  oil  would  be  found  by  the  most  liberal  use 
of  the  drill,  in  many  instances  furnished  the  basis  for  a 
concern  capitalized  at  a  half  miillion  dollars. 

During  this  period  of  wild  inflation  there  was  a 
suflicient  number  of  people  who,  by  lucky  strikes, 
acquired  fabulous  wealth,  almost  in  a  day,  keeping  the 
public  interest  in  the  oil  field  in  a  state  of  the  most 
hopeful  expectancy.  Johnny  Steele,  since  known  to 
the  world  as  ''Coal  Oil  Johnny,"  a  raw  country  lad, 
just  arrived  at  his  majority,  fell  heir  to  the  Widow 
McClintock  farm,  with  a  bulging  bank  account  and  a 
dozen  wells  producing  high  priced  oil.  Visiting  Phil- 
adelphia, he  squandered  his  money  on  hackmen,  min- 
strel troupes  and  everything  else  which  attracted  his 
fancy,  creating  the  impression  among  those  who  wit- 
nessed his  fantastic  extravagance  that  any  fool  could 
make  a  fortune  by  going  into  the  oil  business.  The 
collapse  of  these  speculative  corporations,  which  came 
about  the  closing  period  of  the  war,  would  at  any  other 
time  have  inflicted  a  deadly  blow  on  what  has  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  most  profitable  industries  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  nation.  But  with  the  disbanding  of  the 
Union  armies,  a  great  multitude  of  self-reliant  men, 
trained  to  the  hardships  of  an  army  life  for  four  years, 
were  turned  loose  to  begin  the  world  for  themselves, 


472 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  of  these  a  plentiful  sprinkling  of  the  most  energetic, 
adventurous  and  capable  drifted  to  the  oil  region. 
These  men,  with  others  equally  capable,  began  at  the 
bottom,  learned  the  business,  drilled  wells,  dressed 
tools,  lived  in  shanties  and  boarded  themselves,  and 
studied  and  improved  upon  the  methods  of  drilling  and 
handling  oil.  Learning  how  to  drill  for  oil,  a  half  a 
dozen  of  these  men  would  lease  a  piece  of  territory, 
erect  a  derrick  and  machinery  and  drill  a  well  them- 
selves, often  eating  and  sleeping  in  the  shanty  engine 
house  while  the  work  was  in  progress.  By  this  process 
was  trained  the  great  group  of  successful  oil  operators 
who  have  expanded  the  production  of  American  oil 
from  2,500,000  barrels  in  1865  to  100,000,000  barrels 
in  1903.  With  the  close  of  the  war  the  speculative 
period  of  oil  development  came  to  an  end,  and  from 
that  time  the  production  of  petroleum  became  first  a 
legitimate  and  permanent,  and  later  a  scientific,  in- 
dustry. The  living  oil  princes,  like  Ex-Senator  Lewis 
Emery,  Jr.,  of  Bradford,  John  Fertig  and  the  McKin- 
neys  of  Titusville,  Thomas  W.  Phillips,  the  only  sur- 
viving member  of  the  firm  of  Phillips  Brothers,  and 
others  scarcely  less  well  known,  have  accumulated  great 
fortunes  by  producing  oil  as  a  legitimate  business, 
every  detail  of  which  they  have  learned  by  careful 
attention  and  practical  experience. 

The  petroleum  industry  has  extended  far  beyond 
Pennsylvania.  Oil  is  produced  largely  in  New  York, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  West  Virginia,  Texas,  Louisiana,  Indian 
Territory,  Kansas,  California  and  a  half  dozen  other 
States  and  Territories,  the  total  production  at  this  time 
exceeding  100,000,000  barrels  per  year,  but  the  business 
had  its  origin  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  every  State  and 
territory  where  it  is  now  produced  the  successful 
operators  are  Pennsylvanians  or  men  from  other  States 
who  first  learned  the  business  in  Pennsylvania.  That 


Of  Pennsylvania 


473 


a  new  and  unheard  of  business  should  have  sprung  up 
and  expanded  from  nothing  to  an  annual  output  of 
more  than  $100,000,000  in  the  space  of  forty- five  years, 
would  at  first  blush  seem  incredible,  but  there  is  no 
disputing  the  figures.  And  the  $100,000,000  estimate 
covers  only  the  value  of  the  crude  material.  The 
manufactured  product,  and  it  is  nearly  all  manufac- 
tured to  prepare  it  for  consumption,  brings  two  or 
three  times  the  value  of  the  crude,  so  that  it  has  come 
to  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  our  great  American 
productions,  and  one  of  our  most  important  articles  of 
export  to  foreign  countries, 

That  Pennsylvania  has  not  reaped  the  full  benefit  to 
which  the  State  was  entitled  from  this  great  natural 
product,  is  now  conceded.  Every  gallon  of  Pennsyl- 
vania oil  should  have  been  manufactured  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  that  which  was  sent  abroad  should  have 
been  exported  from  Pennsylvania's  chief  seaport,  if  the 
natural  advantages  of  location  and  distance  to  market 
had  been  permitted  full  force  and  effect.  That  more 
than  half  of  Pennsylvania's  great  product  is  refined  and 
exported  from  New  York  and  New  Jersey  and  other 
States,  is  due  to  legislative  stupidity.  One  of  the 
important  features  of  the  oil  industry  has  been  the 
development  of  a  system  of  transportation  long  dis- 
tances through  pipe  lines.  The  legislation  which  per- 
mitted the  laying  of  pipe  lines  for  the  transportation  of 
oil  at  first  was  confimed  to  eight  counties  of  northwest- 
ern Pennsylvania,  with  a  proviso  that  no  pipe  line 
should  be  laid  within  a  mile  of  the  State  line.  This 
bottled  up  the  oil  producers  as  to  the  cheapest  and 
most  natural  method  of  bringing  their  great  product 
to  the  seaboard.  It  was  not  until  a  pipe  line  had  been 
laid  the  whole  length  of  the  State  of  New  York,  through 
a  free  pipe  line  law  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  that 
State,  that  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  consented 


474 


Old  Time  Notes 


to  uncork  its  own  petroleum  bottle  by  passing  a 
similar  bill  in  the  session  of  1883,  ten  years  after  it 
ought  to  have  been  passed,  and  after  the  representa- 
tives from  the  oil  region  had  vainly  urged  its  passage. 
In  the  meantime  the  mischief  was  irreparable,  for  the 
stream  of  crude  oil  had  been  diverted  to  the  shores  of 
New  York  Bay,  where  great  refineries  and  export 
warehouses  had  been  established.  Since  the  passage 
of  the  free  pipe  law,  a  portion  of  this  lost  traffic  has 
been  recalled  to  the  shores  of  the  Delaware,  but  not  a 
barrel  of  it  should  ever  have  been  lost.  No  more 
forcible  example  of  the  lack  of  real  statesmanship 
which  has  characterized  the  law  making  power  of 
Pennsylvania  for  half  a  century  could  be  furnished 
than  a  mere  recital  of  the  fact  that  the  manufacture  and 
export  of  one  of  the  State's  great  natural  products  has 
been  concentrated  at  the  seaports  of  two  other  States 
through  the  folly  and  stupidity  of  its  own  legislators, 
who  for  ten  years  prohibited  petroleum  from  flowing 
down  hill  through  their  own  State  to  their  own  sea- 
port. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


475 


XCIV. 

JAMES  DONALD  CAMERON. 

Became  Prominent  National  Political  Leader  in  1876 — Member  of  the 
Grant  Cabinet — He  Forced  the  Struggle  that  Made  Hayes  President 
After  an  Overwhelming  Popular  Defeat — Hayes  Rejected  Cameron 
for  a  Cabinet  Office — His  Father  Resigned  His  Place  in  the  Senate 
and  the  Younger  Cameron  Elected — Cameron  Power  Supreme  in 
Pennsylvania  Authority — Both  the  Camerons  Four  Times  Elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate — How  Governor  Pattison  and  Secretary 
Harrity  Saved  Cameron's  Fourth  Election  in  1891 — Marvelous 
Record  of  Political  Achievement  by  the  Two  Camerons  in  Pennsyl- 
vania— The  Younger  Cameron's  Dominating  Influence  in  Tran- 
quillizing South  Carolina  and  Other  Southern  States — His  Personal 
Attributes. 

JAMES  DONALD  CAMERON,  son  of  Simon  Cam- 
eron, who  established  a  poHtical  dynasty  in 
Pennsylvania  more  than  a  generation  ago,  that 
at  times  has  been  halted  but  never  overthrown 
until  the  present  day,  became  a  prominent  leader 
in  National  politics  in  May,  1876,  when  President 
Grant  appointed  him  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  cabinet, 
placing  him  at  the  head  of  the  War  Department. 
Until  then,  while  he  had  been  a  very  important  State 
leader  for  some  years,  and  had  become  largely  the 
manager  of  his  father's  political  interests  in  the  State, 
he  had  not  been  known  or  felt  in  the  arena  of  National 
politics,  and  his  appointment  to  the  cabinet  was 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  his  father,  then  in  the 
Senate. 

He  was  always  an  unusually  reticent  and  unemo- 
tional man,  and  was  little  seen  or  felt,  even  in  the 
political  contests  of  the  State,  outside  of  the  private 
conclaves  where  battles  were  planned  and  their  execu- 


476 


Old  Time  Notes 


tion  definitely  arranged.  He  was  not  ambitious  to 
be  conspicuous  at  the  front,  but  distinctly  preferred 
to  rule  without  being  ostentatious  in  the  exercise  of 
his  power.  The  few  who  knew  him  intimately  fully 
appreciated  his  ability,  but  in  the  public  estimation 
his  qualities  were  unappreciated  because  not  imder- 
stood. 

At  the  time  of  his  appointment  to  the  cabinet, 
Senator  Cameron  and  President  Grant  were  in  very 
close  accord,  and  both  vindictively  hostile  to  Blaine, 
who  was  then  apparently  the  leading  candidate  for 
the  Republican  nomination  for  President;  and  the 
purpose  of  the  President  and  the  Camerons  was  clearly 
signaled  soon  after  the  younger  Cameron's  appoint- 
ment to  the  cabinet,  by  the  Pennsylvania  Republican 
convention,  while  certainly  two-thirds  of  the  Repub- 
lican people  preferred  the  nomination  of  Blaine,  being 
manipulated  to  instruct  the  delegation  to  the  Cincinnati 
convention  to  vote  as  a  unit  for  the  nomination  of 
Governor  Hartranft  for  President,  and  the  new  Secre- 
tary of  War  headed  the  delegation  and  was  its  chair- 
man. But  for  the  Cameron  combination  in  Pennsyl- 
vania Blaine  would  certainly  have  been  nominated 
for  President,  and  certainly  would  have  carried  as 
many  States  as  gave  their  electoral  votes  to  Hayes; 
but  with  the  hostility  of  the  National  administration, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  States  of  Louisiana,  Florida 
and  South  Carolina  would  have  been  manipulated  for 
Blaine  as  they  were  for  Hayes. 

The  younger  Cameron's  record  as  Secretary  of  War 
was  chiefly  notable  for  the  bold  and  defiant  stand  he 
took  in  the  most  public  way  to  declare  that  Hayes 
was  elected  President  over  Tilden,  and  that  the  power 
of  the  army  would  sustain  the  Republicans  in  the  dis- 
puted States  in  the  South  in  their  struggle  to  secure 
the    electoral  votes  for  the  Republican  candidate. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


477 


He  was  nothing  if  not  heroic,  and  once  exhibited  his 
genuine  Cameron  grit  by  peremptorily  refusing  a  very 
earnest  demand  from  his  father  for  the  appointment 
of  a  young  man  to  a  Heutenantcy  in  the  army.  The 
father  was  greatly  disappointed,  supposing  that  he 
had  only  to  suggest  the  name  to  his  son  to  secure  a 
commission  in  the  army,  and  he  exhibited  some  tem- 
per at  the  refusal,  but  afterwards  he  often  spoke  of 
the  incident  with  pride  in  the  positive  characteristics 
of  his  son. 

Hayes'  election  was  accomplished  by  the  manipula- 
tion of  the  three  Southern  States  which  had  given 
popular  majorities  for  the  Democratic  candidate,  and 
all  the  power  of  the  administration  was  exhaustively 
exercised  to  attain  the  declared  election  of  Hayes, 
in  which  both  the  Camerons  had  played  a  conspicuous 
part.  Indeed,  but  for  the  initiative  taken  by  Secre- 
tary of  War  Cameron,  and  the  defiant  attitude  he  sus- 
tained in  the  struggle,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the 
declared  election  of  Hayes  could  have  been  accom- 
plished. 

It  was  naturally  assumed  by  the  Camerons  that 
Hayes  would  recognize  his  obligations  to  the  Camerons, 
and  that  the  least  he  could  do  would  be  to  continue 
the  yoimger  Cameron  in  the  cabinet.  Great  pressure 
was  brought  upon  Hayes  in  favor  of  Cameron,  delega- 
tion after  delegation  visiting  him  in  Ohio  before  he 
went  to  Washington,  and  occupying  much  of  his  time 
after  he  had  arrived  at  the  Capital.  The  last  delega- 
tion that  called  was  headed  by  Benjamin  Harris 
Brewster,  and  embraced  a  number  of  prominent 
Pennsylvanians.  Hayes  then  announced  that  he  would 
choose  a  new  Secretary  of  War,  and  he  was  bitterly 
denounced  as  an  ingrate  by  most  of  the  Pennsylvanians 
who  had  made  desperate  battle  for  Cameron's  reten- 
tion in  the  cabinet. 


478 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  failure  to  have  the  younger  Cameron  continued 
in  the  cabinet  suddenly  brought  the  elder  Cameron 
to  the  immediate  fulfilment  of  a  purpose  that  he  had 
long  had  in  view  after  he  fotind  himself  securely  in 
the  Senate  with  the  power  of  his  State  behind  him. 
He  did  not  conceal  his  desire  to  establish  a  Cameron 
dynasty  and  have  his  son  succeed  him  in  the  Senate. 
I  have  heard  him  express  the  purpose  on  several 
occasions.  I  was  not  in  accord  with  the  political 
aims  and  methods  of  the  Camerons,  but  always  main- 
tained pleasant  relations  with  them,  and  I  well  remem- 
ber on  one  occasion,  when  in  conversation  with  the 
elder  Cameron,  he  jocularly  remarked  that  I  ought 
to  be  United  States  Senator  some  time,  but  that  I  was 
young  enough  to  wait  for  him  to  finish  his  career  and 
have  his  son  follow  him  for  one  or  more  terms,  when, 
if  I  cherished  Senatorial  ambition,  I  might  be  grati- 
fied if  I  learned  to  behave  myself  politically. 

The  elder  Cameron  had  been  elected  to  the  Senate 
four  different  times;  first,  by  a  Democratic  bolt  and 
fusion  with  the  Whigs  in  1845  when  he  defeated  Judge 
Woodward;  in  1857,  when,  by  the  bolt  of  Lebo,  Maneer 
and  Wagenseller,  Democratic  Representatives,  and  the 
support  of  the  Republicans,  he  was  elected  over  Fomey ; 
in  1867,  when  he  was  nominated  by  the  Republicans 
over  Curtin  and  elected  by  the  full  party  vote,  and  again 
in  1873,  when  he  was  nominated  and  re-elected  prac- 
tically without  a  contest. 

His  first  election  was  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  of 
four  years,  and  his  second  election  ended  in  four  years 
by  his  resignation  to  accept  a  position  in  the  Lincoln 
cabinet.  The  third  election  gave  him  a  full  term, 
and  at  the  end  of  four  years,  after  his  fourth  election, 
he  resigned  in  1877  to  give  place  to  his  son.  The 
elder  Cameron  thus  resigned  from  the  Senate  when 
in  the  very  zenith  of  his  power,  and  there  is  little  doubt 


Of  Pennsylvania 


479 


that  he  could  have  continued  to  serve  as  Senator  until 
his  death  twelve  years  later.  It  was  his  settled  pur- 
pose to  retire  at  some  time  in  favor  of  his  son,  and  the 
refusal  of  President  Hayes  to  continue  the  younger 
Cameron  in  the  cabinet  precipitated  the  resignation 
of  the  elder  Cameron,  who  desired  to  teach  the  new 
administration  that  the  man  he  had  rejected  for  Secre- 
tary of  War  had  the  power  of  a  great  State  behind 
him,  and  could  enter  the  Senate  practically  without  a 
struggle. 

The  Cameron  power  in  all  the  departments  of  author- 
ity in  Pennsylvania  was  then  supreme.  Hartranft 
was  Governor,  and  Mackey  and  Quay  were  lieutenants 
of  rare  efficiency.  No  intimation  of  Cameron's  resig- 
nation was  given  imtil  every  plan  was  perfected  for 
the  election  of  the  younger  Cameron.  The  Legisla- 
ture was  in  session  when  Hayes  refused  to  continue 
Cameron  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  not  only  the  Repub- 
lican leaders,  but  most  of  the  Republican  followers 
in  the  Legislature  were  quickened  in  their  devotion  to 
the  younger  Cameron  by  the  defeat  he  had  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  the  President  who  had  been  elected  chiefly 
by  Cameron's  strategy. 

The  elder  Cameron  visited  Harrisburg,  conferred 
with  Hartranft,  Mackey,  Quay  and  others,  and  inside 
of  twenty-four  hours  had  the  leaders  in  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature  thoroughly  posted  and  ready  to 
accept  the  yoimger  Cameron  when  the  resignation  of 
the  father  was  annoimced;  and  when  those  who  were 
ambitious  for  Senatorial  honors  hurried  to  Harrisburg 
to  make  a  battle  for  the  vacant  Senatorship,  they 
found  that  the  Senatorial  incident  was  closed,  and  that 
opposition  to  the  Cameron  power  would  be  utterly 
hopeless.  The  result  was  that  James  Donald  Cameron 
was  elected  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  two  years  of 
his  father  in  the  Senate,  and  it  goes  without  sa3dng 


48o 


Old  Time  Notes 


that  one  of  the  Senators  from  Pennsylvania  was  not 
enthusiastic  in  support  of  the  Hayes  administion. 

In  the  contest  of  1878  the  Repubhcans  carried  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  by  a  large  majority,  and 
Senator  Cameron  was  re-elected  for  a  full  term  of  six 
years,  practically  without  a  contest.  Again,  in  1884, 
when  Blaine  was  defeated  for  President,  the  Republicans 
carried  the  State  and  Legislature,  and  Cameron  re- 
ceived his  third  election  to  the  Senate  without  serious 
opposition  in  1885,  but  when  the  time  came  for  his 
fourth  election  to  the  Senate  in  189 1,  he  was  threatened 
with  very  serious  opposition,  and  at  one  time  it  looked 
as  if  his  defeat  was  not  only  possible,  but  probable. 

In  the  contest  of  1890,  when  Quay,  with  Cameron's 
assent,  had  forced  the  nomination  of  Delamater  for 
Governor,  and  lost  the  head  of  the  ticket  by  Pattison's 
election  to  a  second  term,  the  revolt  against  the  Cam- 
eron power  was  large  and  aggressive,  and  Cameron's 
open  hostility  to  what  was  known  as  the  ''force  bill, " 
then  pending  in  the  Senate,  became  a  serious  menace 
in  his  Senatorial  struggle.  Cameron  had  uniformly 
opposed  the  force  bill  after  the  first  experiment  had 
been  made  in  that  line,  believing  that  it  was  unwise 
as  a  political  measure  and  dangerous  in  many  respects. 

Soon  after  the  Legislature  had  met  in  1891,  Cameron 
telegraphed  me  to  meet  him  at  the  Continental  Hotel, 
where  I  found  Quay  in  company  with  him.  Quay, 
for  reasons  of  policy,  was  supporting  the  force  bill, 
although  at  heart  earnestly  against  it,  but,  above  all, 
he  desired  the  re-election  of  his  colleague.  Cameron 
informed  me  of  the  situation  at  Harrisburg;  that  he 
might  be  compelled  to  vote  on  the  force  bill  before  the 
election  of  Senator,  and,  if  so,  his  opponents  would 
probably  organize  open  defection  against  him.  He 
said  that  his  nomination  by  the  caucus  was  assured 
under  any  circumstance,  and  that  he  could  be  defeated 


0{  Pennsylvania 


481 


only  by  a  combination  between  force  bill  Republican 
bolters  and  the  Democrats. 

Pattison  was  soon  to  be  inaugurated  as  Governor 
and  Harrity  was  announced  as  secretary  of  the  com- 
monwealth. They  were  both  within  two  squares  of 
the  Continental  Hotel,  and  Cameron,  desired  that  they 
should  be  conferred  with  and  informed  of  the  ground 
upon  v/hich  Cameron  was  likely  to  be  opposed.  The 
Democrats  were  intensely  hostile  to  the  force  bill,  and 
he  authorized  them  to  be  informed  that  he  was  opposed 
to  it  and  would  vote  against  it,  but  he  believed  himself 
entitled  to  the  assurance  that  if  his  defeat  for  Senator 
was  threatened  because  of  his  voting  against  the  force 
bill,  the  Democrats  should  not  permit  a  combination 
against  hirn  for  the  election  of  a  force  bill  Republican. 

I  left  Cameron  and  Quay  and  at  once  visited  Pattison 
and  Harrity,  and  received  their  positive  assurance  that 
if  a  revolt  was  attempted"  against  Cameron  by  the 
force  bill  Republicans,  the  Democrats  would  not  per- 
mit him  to  be  defeated  for  what  they  regarded  as  the 
most  patriotic  act  of  his  life.  There  was  no  hesitation 
on  the  part  of  either  Pattison  or  Harrity,  and  when 
Cameron  was  informed  of  their  purpose  he  expressed 
his  contempt  for  his  factional  opponents. 

It  soon  became  known  at  Harrisburg  that  if  a  bolt 
was  attempted  against  Cameron  the  Democrats  would 
support  him  against  any  force  bill  Republican,  and  as 
his  defeat  was  impossible,  the  Republicans  gave  him 
a  practically  united  support.  He  served  the  full 
fourth  term  for  which  he  was  elected,  and  then  volun- 
tarily retired  from  public  life.  During  his  last  term 
he  was  not  entirely  in  accord  with  his  party  on  the 
silver  question,  but  he  had  gathered  all  the  laurels 
of  a  Senatorial  career,  was  weary  of  its  exactions, 
and  his  retirement  was  in  full  accord  with  his  own  pur- 
poses and  desires. 


2—31 


482 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  Camerons  thus  made  the  most  marvelous  record 
ever  made  by  any  family  in  Pennsylvania  politics. 
The  father  was  four  times  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  serving  three  terms  of  four  years  and  one  of 
six,  making  an  aggregate  of  eighteen  years,  beginning 
in  1845  continuing  at  intervals  tintil  1877,  while 
the  son,  who  immediately  succeeded  the  father,  was 
four  times  consecutively  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  served  an  aggregate  period  of  twenty 
years.  There  was  only  one  other  instance  that  1  can 
recall  in  which  a  son  succeeded  the  father  in  the  United 
States  Senate.  James  A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  re- 
signed his  seat  in  the  Senate  at  the  early  part  of  the 
war  because  he  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
that  was  then  required  of  Senators,  and  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Delaware  Legislature  Bayard  was 
elected  to  serve  his  imexpired  term,  and  on  the  same 
day  his  son,  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  was  elected  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  father. 

Henry  Dodge  was  one  of  the  first  United  States 
Senators  elected  from  the  State  of  Wisconsin  and 
served  from  Jime,  1843,  "to  March,  1857,  and  Augustus 
C.  Dodge,  his  son,  was  the  same  year  elected  one  of 
the  first  Senators  from  the  new  State  of  Iowa,  and 
served  from  December,  1848,  to  February,  1855.  It 
was  the  only  instance  in  which  father  and  son  served 
together  in  the  Senate.  Benton  served  a  brief  period 
in  the  Senate  with  his  son-in-law,  John  C.  Fremont. 

Only  one  man  has  represented  more  than  one  State 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  James  Shields,  after 
having  filled  several  State  offices  in  Illinois,  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  Senate,  but  was  refused  admission 
because  he  lacked  a  few  days  of  being  eligible  as  a 
naturalized  citizen.  The  Legislature  re-elected  him 
as  soon  as  he  became  eligible,  and  he  served  the  full 
term,  when  he  removed  to  Minnesota,  where  he  was 


Of  Pennsylvania 


483 


eleoted  to  fill  an  unexpired  term  of  one  or  two  years 
in  the  United  States  Senate.  After  serving  with  great 
credit  in  the  army  during  the  Civil  War,  he  removed 
to  Missouri,  where  he  was  appointed  adjutant  general, 
and  later  was  appointed  by  the  Governor  to  fill  an  imex- 
pired  term  of  one  year  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
In  addition  to  serving  as  United  States  Senator,  repre- 
senting three  different  States,  he  once  located  in  Cali- 
fornia, where  he  held  an  important  State  office. 

The  younger  Cameron  was  not  aggressive  in  states- 
manship, but  he  exercised  a  very  potent  influence  in  all 
important  legislation.  He  was  not  ambitious  to  pose  as 
a  leader,  but  he  was  a  man  of  clear  judgment,  unusually 
sagacious,  and  when  occasion  required  it,  heroic  in 
action.  He  saw  the  disastrous  results  of  carpet-bag 
rule  in  the  South,  and  the  great  peril  of  placing  the 
power  of  the  force  bill  in  the  hands  of  such  irresponsible 
agents.  His  friend,  John  J.  Patterson,  who  was  nomi- 
nated for  Congress  in  Cameron's  district  in  1862,  and 
defeated  in  the  revulsion  of  that  year,  had  gone  to 
South  Carolina  and  secured  his  election  to  the  Senate. 

According  to  the  Hayes  policy  agreed  upon  between 
the  Hayes  leaders  and  a  number  of  Southern  leaders, 
it  was  substantially  decided  that  the  South  should 
submit  quietly  to  the  election  of  Hayes  by  giving  him 
the  electoral  votes  of  Louisiana,  Florida  and  South 
Carolina,  and  that  those  States  should  have  their 
Democratic  Governors  and  State  officers  without  dis- 
pute from  the  National  authority.  Of  course,  it  meant 
a  patent  fraud  on  one  side  or  the  other,  as  the  vote 
that  would  give  Hayes  the  electors  of  those  States 
would  elect  the  Republican  State  ticket,  but  the 
occasion  was  too  grave  to  be  halted  by  irregularities 
of  that  sort,  and  Democratic  Governors  were  installed 
in  the  three  disputed  States  and  recognized  by  the 
National  administration. 


484 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  Kukliix  of  South  Carolina  had  been  provoked 
to  savage  activity,  and  a  score  or  more  of  them  were 
under  indictment  in  the  United  States  court,  where 
Judge  Bond  presided,  and  where  they  were  Hkely  to 
receive  severe  punishment.  On  the  other  hand,  nearly 
all  of  the  Republican  leaders  of  South  Carolina,  black 
and  white,  were  indicted  in  the  State  courts  for  embez- 
zlement and  other  crimes,  and  most  of  them  were  illy 
prepared  to  confront  an  honest  court.  In  this  emer- 
gency Cameron  came  to  the  front,  and  a  general  if  not 
a  definite  understanding  was  reached  that  all  prosecu- 
tions in  both  State  and  Federal  courts  should  be  halted, 
and  Cameron  exhibited  his  fidelity  to  the  compact 
by  securing  the  admission  of  Butler,  a  Democratic 
claimant  for  United  States  Senator  from  South 
Carolina. 

The  result  was  that  not  a  single  criminal  case  against 
the  Kuklux  or  the  Republican  leaders  of  the  State  has 
ever  been  called  for  trial,  and  there  are  several  prom- 
inent colored  men  who  were  then  leaders  in  South 
Carolina  politics,  who  are  yet  holding  positions  at 
Washington,  although  imder  indictment  at  home  for 
embezzlement.  Whether  the  cases  were  nol  prossed 
or  not  I  am  not  advised,  but  for  many  years  they 
stood  open  upon  the  records  of  the  court  with  the  under- 
standing all  around  that  they  were  not  to  be  pressed 
to  trial,  and  a  host  of  Kuklux  marauders  and  em- 
bezzling politicians  escaped  justice  to  give  peace  to  a 
long-disturbed  and  fearfully-plundered  State.  Since 
1877,  when  peace  was  reached  by  agreement  with 
South  Carolina,  Cameron  never  favored  the  enactment 
of  a  force  bill  for  the  South,  and  certainly  saved  his 
party  from  that  supreme  folly  as  late  as  1890. 

Senator  Cameron  has  many  times  been  felt  in  the 
important  political  struggles  of  the  nation.  I  have 
already  told  of  his  masterful  leadership  by  which 


Of  Pennsylvania 


485 


Blaine  was  defeated  at  Cincinnati  in  1876,  but  he 
loomed  up  even  greater  in  the  National  convention  in 
Chicago  in  1880,  when  a  battle  royal  was  fought  out 
between  the  Grant  and  Blaine  forces,  resulting  in  the 
nomination  of  Garfield  after  a  desperate  struggle  of 
more  than  a  week.  Cameron  was  then  chairman  of 
the  National  committee,  and  called  the  convention  to 
order.  He  had  a  follovv^ing  in  the  convention  that  was 
just  short  of  a  majority,  but  thoroughly  united  and 
earnest,  and  ready  to  follow  the  Grant  leader  without 
question.  Blaine  had  a  following  of  nearly  equal 
numbers  and  equal  earnestness,  but  lacking  in  such 
lustrous  leadership  as  was  exhibited  by  Conkling, 
Cameron  and  others. 

In  the  preliminary  proceedings,  when  the  chairman 
of  the  National  committee  presided,  Cameron  ruled 
rigidly  in  favor  of  imit  voting  where  such  instructions 
were  given,  but  the  convention  reversed  him,  and  that 
was  a  fatal  blow  to  Grant,  as  nearly  one-third  of  the 
New  York  delegation,  with  a  number  of  other  fractions 
of  delegations,  were  thereby  released  from  the  unit 
instructions  they  had  received  at  home,  and  all  took 
advantage  of  the  new  situation  and  voted  against 
Grant.  It  was  a  most  earnest  and  desperate  struggle, 
exhibiting  the  highest  qualities  of  leadership,  but  Grant 
never  had  a  majority  within  reach,  and  Cameron  fought 
imtil  the  last  moment,  when  he  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  306  who  cast  their  votes  for  Grant,  and  afterwards 
received,  and  wore  with  pride,  the  medal  that  was  given 
to  the  defeated  supporters  of  the  Hero  of  Appomattox. 

Senator  Cameron  never  employed  the  arts  commonly 
used  by  public  men  to  popularize  themselves  with  the 
people.  He  despised  all  such  methods  in  politics, 
and  fortunately  for  himself  was  quite  big  enough  to 
succeed  without  them.  It  is  said  that  he  once  enter- 
tained the  idea  of  being  a  candidate  for  Governor, 


486 


Old  Time  Notes 


but  it  did  not  develop  to  his  satisfaction  and  it  was 
abandoned,  but  to-day  he  would  probably  be  accepted 
as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor  if  he  indi- 
cated his  willingness  to  accept  it. 

It  is  an  open  secret  that  when  Quay  died,  the  Repub- 
lican leaders  of  the  State  urged  Cameron  to  accept  the 
appointment  of  United  States  Senator  with  the  assur- 
ance that  he  would  be  elected,  but  he  peremptorily 
declined  it,  declaring  that  tinder  no  circumstance  would 
he  return  to  the  Senate,  and  his  declination  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  suggestion  of  the  name  of  Attorney 
General  Kjiox.  While  he  was  not  visible  in  the  move- 
ments which  settled  the  party  leaders  in  Pittsburg 
and  Philadelphia  in  favor  of  Ejiox,  it  is  none  the  less 
true  that  the  combination  was  planned  by  Cameron 
and  carried  to  successful  execution. 

Whether  he  would  accept  the  Governorship  is  not 
known  even  to  his  closest  friends,  but  there  is  no  man 
in  Pennsylvania  who  is  to-day  better  equipped  for 
that  position  than  J.  Donald  Cameron.  No  man  is 
more  familiar  with  all  the  great  interests  of  our  State, 
and  he  is  entirely  familiar  with  the  political  conditions, 
and  the  new  issues  which  have  come  to  the  front  in 
the  flight  of  time,  and  he  would  be  thoroughly  honest 
and  wisely  progressive  in  his  administration  of  the 
government  of  our  great  Commonwealth. 


of  Pennsylvania 


487 


xcv. 


HOYT  ELECTED  GOVERNOR. 


The  Democratic  Victory  of  1877 — How  Trunkey  was  Made  Supreme 
Judge — Trunkey  Defeats  the  Late  Chief  Justice  Sterrett — Pattison's 
First  Victory  by  Election  to  the  ControUership — Quay  and  Mackey 
Reform  Their  Lines  for  the  Election  of  Hoyt — Notable  Contest  for 
Supreme  Judge  Between  Chief  Justice  Agnew  and  Judge  Sterrett — 
Quay  Side-tracks  the  Greenback  Party  Against  Fusion,  Then  De- 
clares for  Sound  Money — Hoyt  Elected  by  22,000  Plurality  with 
Over  80,000  Greenback  Votes  Side-tracked  —  Death  of  Mackey, 
Leaving  Quay  Supreme  Party  Leader. 


S  Pennsylvania  was  in  the  violent  throes  of  labor 


strikes  and  angry  revolutionists  before  mid- 


Slimmer  of  1877,  the  political  prospect  was  most 
unpromising  for  the  Republicans.  The  party  in  power 
has  always  been  held  responsible  for  financial  and  indus- 
trial depression,  and  as  the  troubles  of  that  year  were 
developed  to  the  extent  of  plunging  Pittsburg  into 
anarchy,  whereby  railway  travel  was  halted,  and  mil- 
lions of  railway  property  destroyed  by  a  mob,  with 
the  loss  of  a  score  or  more  of  lives  and  the  wounding 
of  many  others  in  conflict  between  the  military  and 
the  mob,  few  of  the  Republican  leaders  had  hope  of 
party  success  at  the  fall  election.  The  industrial  dis- 
turbance was  universal  throughout  the  State,  with 
riotous  eruptions  in  most  of  the  centers  of  population, 
and  such  a  condition  always  means  disaster  to  the 
party  in  power.  The  Republicans  were  in  power  in 
city,  State  and  Nation,  and  that  party  was  compelled 
to  reckon  with  the  starving  people  who  were  inflamed 
to  lawlessness. 

The  Democrats  took  the  lead  in  forming  their  line 


488 


Old  Time  Notes 


of  battle  in  the  contest  of  1877.  It  was  an  unusual 
proceeding,  but  they  feh  confident  of  success,  and 
inspired  confidence  among  the  people  by  boldly  coming 
to  the  front  and  challenging  the  dominant  party  to 
battle.  Their  convention  was  held  at  Harrisburg  on 
the  2 2d  of  August,  with  Congressman  William  S. 
Stenger  as  permanent  president.  Three  State  officers 
were  to  be  elected — supreme  judge,  auditor  general 
and  State  treasurer.  Henry  Warren  Williams,  of 
Allegheny,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the  supreme 
bench  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation 
of  Justice  Strong  in  1867,  and  was  elected  the  same 
year,  died  in  1877,  and  President  J^idge  Sterrett,  of 
Allegheny,  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  two  men  bearing  precisely  the 
same  name,  Henry  Warren  Williams,  one  residing  in 
Allegheny,  and  the  other  in  Tioga,  without  relationship, 
were  candidates  for  the  .  supreme  judgeship.  The 
Allegheny  judge  first  succeeded  and  died  in  office, 
and  a  few  years  thereafter  Williams  of  Tioga  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  death 
of  Chief  Justice  Mercur,  and  was  elected  for  a  full  term 
the  same  year,  and  like  his  namesake  died  after  a 
decade  or  more  of  service. 

The  contest  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for 
supreme  judge  became  intensel}^  embittered,  chiefly 
because  the  late  William  M.  Singerly,  then  a  strong 
Democratic  power  in  Philadelphia,  threw  himself  into 
the  breach  to  prevent  the  nomination  of  Ftirman 
Sheppard,  who  was  the  favorite  of  the  convention, 
and  would  certainly  have  been  nominated  but  for 
Singerly 's  aggressive  and  skillful  tactics.  The  first 
ballot  gave  Trunkey  71  and  Sheppard  64,  with  a  large 
scattering  vote  diffused  among  a  half  a  score  of  candi- 
dates. On  the  second  ballot  Sheppard  received  103 
votes  to  100  for  Trunkey,  with  48  votes  scattering; 


Of  Pennsylvania 


489 


on  the  third  ballot,  that  was  taken  in  almost  breath- 
less silence,  every  delegate  answered  to  his  name  but 

Uncle  Jake ' '  Zeigler  of  Butler,  the  leading  Democratic 
politician  of  his  section,  who  had  been  clerk  of  the 
house  for  many  years.  He  had  retired  between  ballots 
with  some  friends  to  sample  the  old  rye  of  the  Brady 
House,  and  as  the  ballot  progressed,  and  his  absence 
was  noted,  several  exploring  parties  were  sent  out  to 
bring  him  in  before  the  ballot  ended. 

When  the  last  name  on  the  list  was  called  the  vote 
stood  Trunkey  124  and  Sheppard  124,  but  just  then 
"Uncle  Jake"  entered  the  hall,  and  stood  up  in  the 
main  aisle  smiling  like  a  bridesmaid,  and  asked  that 
his  name  be  called.  The  clerk  at  once  responded  and 
Zeigler 's  vote  was  given  for  Trunkey,  thereby  making 
him  the  candidate,  and  giving  the  State  a  supreme 
judge.  William  P.  Schell,  of  Bedford,  who  had  served 
in  both  house  and  senate,  was  nominated  for  auditor 
general  on  the  second  ballot,  and  Amos  C.  Noyes,  of 
Clinton,  who  had  served  several  sessions  in  the  house, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  leading  lumber 
men  of  his  region,  was  nomdnated  for  State  treasurer 
on  the  fifth  ballot.  He  was  popularly  known  through- 
out the  campaign  as  Square- timber  Noyes."  The 
platform  was  very  shrewdly  drawn  to  commend  the 
party  to  the  disturbed  elements  of  the  State. 

The  Republican  convention  met  at  Harrisburg  on 
the  4th  of  September  with  ex- Congressman  William 
H.  Armstrong  as  permanent  president.  Justice  Ster- 
rett  was  unanimously  nominated  for  the  supreme  court 
to  succeed  himself,  and  William  B.  Hart,  of  Mont- 
gomery, was  also  nominated  by  acclamation  for  State 
treasurer.  A  single  ballot  was  had  for  auditor  general, 
when  John  A.  M.  Passmore,  of  Schuylkill,  was  nomi- 
nated over  Howard  J.  Reeder  by  a  vote  of  165  to  82. 
The  platform  was  reported  by  Representative  John 


490 


Old  Time  Notes 


Cessna,  and  was  skilfully  drawn  to  meet  the  new  con- 
ditions which  confronted  the  party,  but  revolutionists 
never  take  pause  to  study  political  deliverances. 

In  revolutionary  times  new  parties  are  born  in  a  day, 
and  old  side-show  organizations  are  brought  into 
renewed  activity.  The  workingmen  held  a  State  con- 
vention at  Harrisburg  on  the  loth  of  September,  and 
nominated  Judge  William  Elwell,  of  Columbia,  for 
supreme  judge,  John  M.  Davis,  of  Allegheny,  for  auditor 
general,  and  James  L.  Wright,  of  Philadelphia,  for 
State  treasurer.  The  Greenback  party  also  held  a 
State  convention  at  Williamsport  on  the  19th  of  Sep- 
tember, of  which  Frank  W.  Hughes  was  chairman,  and 
Benjamin  S.  Bentley,  of  Lycoming,  was  nominated 
for  supreme  judge,  with  James  E.  Emerson  for  auditor 
general,  and  James  L.  Wright,  the  Workingmen 's 
candidate,  for  State  treasurer.  The  Prohibitionists 
also  held  a  State  convention  on  the  14th  of  September, 
at  which  ex-Congressman  A.  A.  Barker  presided,  and 
nominated  A.  D.  Win  ton,  of  Luzerne,  for  supreme  judge, 
'A.  A.  Barker  for  auditor  general,  and  Samuel  Corney, 
of  Chester,  for  State  treasurer. 

The  Republicans  made  exhaustive  efforts  to  get  their 
broken  lines  reformed  ^  but  it  was  an  utter  impossibility 
to  bring  the  revolutionary  tidal  wave  to  an  ebb,  and 
the  entire  State  ticket  was  defeated  by  nearly  10,000 
majority.  While  the  Democrats  carried  all  the  State 
officers,  the  Republicans  held  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  having  31  senators  to  19  Democrats,  and 
120  Republicans  in  the  house  to  81  Democrats. 

The  election  of  1877  brought  to  the  front  Robert  E. 
Pattison,  then  a  young  lawyer  in  the  office  of  Lewis  C. 
Cassidy,  and  spoken  of  rather  contemptuously  by  his 
political  opponents  as  Cassidy 's  boy."  He  had  just 
begun  a  moderately  successful  career  at  the  bar,  and 
was  little  knov^n  to  the  public  when  his  name  was  first 


Of  Pennsylvania 


491 


presented.  The  proposition  to  place  a  young  man 
without  official  experience  in  the  important  office  of 
city  controller  was  not  at  first  regarded  with  general 
favor,  but  the  more  the  people  studied  the  character 
and  qualities  of  Pattison  the  more  valuable  he  was 
regarded.  Two  common  pleas  judges  were  to  be 
elected,  and  Judges  Fell,  Republican,  and  Ludlow, 
Democrat,  were  accepted  by  both  parties  and  received 
the  unanimous  vote  of  the  people. 

There  was  a  very  earnest  struggle  for  the  nomina- 
tion for  district  attorney,  involving  a  number  of  am- 
bitious expectants,  but  after  a  considerable  wrangle 
they  were  all  set  aside,  and  Judge  Thayer  was  made  the 
compromise  candidate  against  Hagert,  who  had  been 
assistant  district  attorney  under  Sheppard.  Patti- 
son's  competitor  was  Mr.  Sayre,  an  active  and  popular 
Republican,  and  Dr.  Gilbert,  the  Democratic  candidate 
for  coroner  against  Mr.  Knorr,  who  was  an  earnest 
Republican  and  generally  acceptable  as  a  candidate, 
but  while  the  candidates  on  the  Republican  State 
ticket  all  received  majorities  in  Philadelphia  of  from 
6,000  to  7,000,  the  entire  Democratic  city  ticket  was 
elected  by  majorities  ranging  from  1,000  to  2,000. 

This  defeat  of  the  city  ticket  was  the  result  of  internal 
dissensions  within  the  party,  and  not  because  of  special 
objections  to  any  of  the  candidates.  The  selection  of 
Thayer  was  regarded  as  specially  strong,  but  he  was 
seriously  weakened  by  Benjamin  Harris  Brewster 
accepting  the  nomination  of  the  Labor  party  for  the 
same  office,  and  receiving  some  5,000  votes.  The 
public  estimate  of  Judge  Thayer  was  shown  one  year 
later  when  he  was  unanimously  re-elected  as  judge. 

With  such  a  disaster  as  that  suffered  by  the  Repub- 
licans in  both  city  and  State  in  1877,  it  was  only  natural 
that  the  Republican  leaders  who  were  masters  in  their 
line  would  exhaust  their  resources  to  regain  the  State 


492  Old  Time  Notes 


in  1878,  when  a  Governor  was  to  be  elected,  and  Repub- 
lican mastery  was  secured  in  that  contest  only  by  the 
shrewdest  political  strategy  on  the  part  of  the  Repub- 
lican leaders.  The  Greenback  issue  had  become  a 
very  dangerous  one,  and  clearly  held  the  balance  of 
power  between  the  two  parties.  Its  most  active 
leaders  were  trained  in  commercial  politics,  and  Mackey 
and  Quay  began  their  campaign  by  getting  absolute 
control  of  the  Greenback  organization.  Its  State 
convention  was  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the  6th  of  May, 
and  Samuel  E.  Mason,  of  Mercer,  was  nominated  for 
Governor.  The  only  condition  that  Mackey  and  Quay 
required  from  the  Greenback  leaders  was  that  they 
should  nominate  Mason,  who  was  pledged  to  remain  in 
the  field,  and  under  no  circumstances  to  consent  to  a 
fusion  between  the  Greenback  and  Democratic  parties. 

Such  fusion  would  have  been  natural,  as  a  large  major- 
ity of  the  Democrats  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  believed 
in  the  Greenback  policy,  and  a  fusion  with  that  party 
by  the  Democrats,  with  a  Democrat  for  Governor  and 
a  Greenback  man  for  Lieutenant  Governor,  would  have 
swept  the  State.  A  counter  movement  was  made  in 
the  Greenback  convention  to  nominate  William  H. 
Armstrong  as  the  candidate  for  Governor,  believing 
that  he  would  be  accepted  by  the  Republicans  and  thus 
give  the  Greenbackers  the  semblance  of  victory,  but 
Mackey  and  Quay  had  the  Greenbackers  ticketed 
through  and  baggage  checked  with  all  the  Greenback 
leaders  involved  in  the  deal,  including  the  Greenback 
nominee  for  Governor,  sworn  to  resist  fusion  under 
any  and  all  circumstances. 

The  Republicans  held  their  State  convention  at 
Harrisburg  on  the  1 5th  of  May  with  Mayor  Stokley  as 
permanent  president.  Henry  M.  Hoyt,  the  slated 
candidate  for  Governor,  was  nominated  on  the  first 
ballot  by  a  vote  of  161  to  47  for  Grow,  29  for  Wicker- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


493 


sham,  1 2  for  Beaver  and  i  for  Morrell.  For  Lieutenant 
Governor  Charles  W.  Stone,  of  Warren,  was  nominated 
on  the  first  ballot  by  a  vote  of  182  to  59  for  J.  Howard 
Jacobs,  and  Aaron  K.  Dunkel,  of  Philadelphia,  was 
nominated  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs  on  the  first 
ballot  by  a  vote  of  122  to  106  for  McClellan. 

The  only  earnest  contest  of  the  convention  was 
on  the  nomination  for  supreme  judge.  Chief  Justice 
Agnew's  term  in  the  supreme  court  was  about  to  expire, 
and  he  was  then  well  on  toward  the  patriarchal  age. 
He  was  highly  respected  alike  personally  and  judicially, 
and  under  ordinary  circumstances  it  is  quite  probable 
that  even  his  age  would  not  have  precluded  his  renomi- 
nation,  but  Judge  Sterrett  had  resigned  the  president 
judgeship  of  Allegheny  to  accept  the  appointment  of 
supreme  judge  in  the  disastrous  year  of  1877,  when  he 
suffered  defeat  with  his  associates  on  the  State  ticket, 
and  Quay  and  Mackey  were  pledged  to  the  nomination 
of  Sterrett,  although  Quay  was  a  fellow  townsman  of 
Agnew,  and  had  nominated  him  fifteen  years  before. 

The  two  most  notable  speeches  I  have  ever  heard  in 
a  State  convention  were  made  on  that  occasion  by  the 
late  Lin  Bartholomew,  of  Pottsville,  in  favor  of  the 
nomination  of  Judge  Sterrett,  and  by  ex-Congressman 
William  H.  Koontz,  of  Somerset,  pressing  the  renomi- 
nation  of  Agnew.  Those  addresses  rank  amongst  the 
ablest  of  the  political  deliverances  I  have  heard  in  a 
Pennsylvania  State  convention.  Each  of  the  speakers 
knew  the  responsibility  he  had  assumed,  and  both 
acquitted  themselves  in  a  masterly  manner,  but  the 
organization  was  omnipotent,  and  Sterrett  was  nomi- 
nated on  the  first  ballot  by  154  to  92  for  Agnew. 

The  Republican  ticket  was  one  of  unusual  strength. 
Hoyt  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  who  ever  filled  the 
gubernatorial  chair  of  Penns^dvaania,  and  with  his 
clean  record  as  citizen,  as  judge  and  as  soldier  he  was 


494 


Old  Time  Notes 


a  formidable  candidate  to  assail,  while  Judge  Sterrett 
commanded  the  confidence  of  the  entire  profession 
of  the  State,  and  was  universally  respected  personally 
as  widely  as  he  was  known.  Stone,  the  nominee  for 
Lieutenant  Governor,  had  been  a  prominent  name  in 
Pennsylvania  politics,  having  served  very  creditably 
in  Congress,  and  was  a  prominent  candidate  for  Gov- 
ernor against  his  namesake  to  succeed  Hasitngs. 

The  Democratic  State  convention  met  at  Pittsburg 
on  the  2 2d  of  May  with  ex-Senator  Buckalew  permanent 
president.  The  contest  for  Governor  was  unusually 
animated,  as  Wallace,  who  favored  the  nomination  of 
Andrew  H.  Dill,  locked  horns  with  William  L.  Scott, 
of  Erie,  in  urging  the  nomination  of  ex- Congressman 
James  H.  Hopkins,  of  Allegheny.  Wallace  won  out 
and  nominated  Dill  on  the  third  ballot  by  a  vote  of 
136  to  89  for  Hopkins  and  27  scattering.  Judge 
Ross,  of  Montgomery,  was  nominated  for  supreme 
judge  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving  162  votes  v/ith  71 
for  Sheppard  and  10  for  Golden.  John  Fertig,  of 
Crawford,  was  nominated  for  Lieutenant  Governor 
on  the  third  ballot,  the  vote  being  162  to  64  for  Sow- 
den,  and  J.  Simpson  Africa,  of  Huntingdon,  was 
unanimously  nominated  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs. 

The  Prohibitionists  met  at  Altoona  on  the  20th  of 
May,  and  nominated  FrankHn  H.  Lane,  of  Hunting- 
don, for  Governor,  and  the  party  would  have  made  no 
figure  in  the  contest  if  it  had  not  nominated  Chief 
Justice  Agnew  for  supreme  judge,  and  soon  after  the 
nomination  had  been  made,  Judge  Bentley,  the  Green- 
back candidate  for  supreme  judge,  retired  from  the 
ticket,  and  the  Greenbackers  accepted  Agnew  as  their 
candidate.  Thus  a  fusion  was  effected  between  the 
Greenbackers  and  Prohibitionists  on  the  single  office 
of  supreme  judge,  but  the  Republican  leaders  did  not 
fear  any  fusion  embracing  the  Democratic  party. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


495 


The  Republicans  knew  that  they  had  a  desperate 
contest  before  them,  and  Quay  took  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  State  committee  and  became  the  immediate 
commander  in  the  battle.  He  had  the  Greenbackers 
safely  side-tracked  against  fusion  with  the  Democrats, 
and  well  knew  that  more  Democrats  than  Republicans 
would  follow  the  distinct  Greenback  party  flag.  He 
knew  also  that  the  Democratic  business  interests  in 
the  State  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Greenback 
policy,  and  he  astounded  the  Democrats  and  many 
of  his  own  followers  by  opening  the  campaign  with 
Galusha  A.  Grow  as  the  oracle  declaring  distinctly 
in  favor  of  maintaining  the  credit  of  the  government 
by  adhering  to  the  gold  standard,  and  reaching  specie 
payments  as  rapidly  as  could  be  done  without  embar- 
rassment to  the  business  and  industrial  interests  of 
the  country.  Under  ordinary  conditions  such  a  policy 
would  have  been  fatal,  as  it  would  have  rushed  the 
Democrats  and  Greenbackers  into  fusion,  but  Quay 
well  knew  that  he  had  created  an  impassable  gulf 
between  those  two  parties,  and  he  decided  to  take 
the  chance  of  losing  a  few  Greenback  Republicans  and 
winning  a  larger  number  of  sound  money  Democrats. 

No  campaign  ever  organized  and  fought  in  the  State 
was  more  skilfully  planned  and  executed.  Many  of 
the  Greenback  people  were  aroused  to  aggressive 
action  in  demanding  that  in  the  face  of  the  gold  stand- 
ard being  flung  into  their  faces  by  the  Republican 
organization,  the  Democrats  and  Greenbackers  should 
make  common  cause,  as  thus  united  they  undoubtedly 
had  the  power  to  carry  the  State.  The  Greenback 
candidate  for  Governor  was  faithful  to  his  agreement, 
and  the  Greenback  leaders  in  charge  of  the  campaign 
threw  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  fusion. 

The  fact  that  Judge  Agnew  polled  99,316  votes  for 
supreme  judge  by  a  fusion  between  the  Prohibitionists 


496 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  Greenbackers  alone,  clearly  shows  that  even  a 
measurable  fusion  between  the  Greenbackers  and  the 
Democrats  would  have  defeated  the  Republican  State 
ticket.  Fortunately  for  Quay,  the  Greenbackers  had 
no  party  leaders  to  make  battle  for  the  integrity  of 
their  organization.  Many  of  them  were  purely  com- 
mercial, and  others  idealists  who  were  always  ready  to 
follow  a  hopeless  flag  in  support  of  their  faith,  rather 
than  mingle  it  with  the  faith  of  others  to  gain  victory. 

Hoyt  took  the  stump,  and  his  speeches  were  among 
the  ablest  ever  delivered  in  the  State.  He  did  not 
enthuse  audiences  as  Curtin  did,  but  he  seriously 
impressed  all  intelligent  hearers,  and  came  out  of 
the  struggle  a  very  much  more  highly  appreciated 
man  than  he  was  when  he  entered  it.  Dill  made  few 
speeches,  but  what  he  did  make  were  of  a  masterly 
type.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  then  connected 
with  State  authority,  as  he  had  served  a  long  period 
in  the  senate,  but  he  was  one  of  the  most  unassuming 
of  all  our  public  men.  He  was  personally  popular, 
for  none  more  nearly  completed  the  circle  of  all  the 
admirable  personal  qualities  of  a  public  man.  No  one 
in  the  Senate  was  more  highly  respected  by  the  Repub- 
licans than  was  Andrew  H.  Dill,  and  thus  the  two  great 
parties  had  eminently  able  representatives  at  the  head 
of  their  tickets,  and  men  completely  equipped  alike  in 
character  and  attainments  to  fill  the  office  of  Governor 
with  the  highest  measure  of  credit. 

Africa,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  secretary  of 
internal  affairs,  had  creditably  served  in  the  Legisla- 
ture, although  representing  a  strong  Republican  dis- 
trict, and  was  very  highly  respected,  while  Dunkel, 
his  Republican  competitor,  suffered  to  some  extent 
from  defection  within  his  own  party.  The  result 
was  the  election  of  Hoyt  by  a  plurality  of  22,253,  with 
Mason,  Greenback  candidate,  receiving  81,758  votes. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


497 


Stone's  plurality  was  23,255,  Sterrett's  plurality  was 
23,821,  with  Agnew,  Greenback- Prohibition,  polling  93,- 
316  votes,  and  Dunkel  was  elected  by  12,159  plurality. 

In  Allegheny  County  Agnew  received  10,181  votes, 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  supreme  judge  received 
11,999,  Sterrett  19,518,  showing  a  majority  in 

Allegheny  against  the  Republicans,  although  their 
State  ticket  received  a  plurality  of  nearly  10,000.  In 
a  number  of  the  counties  in  the  State  the  combined 
Greenback  and  Prohibition  vote  cast  for  Agnew  was 
larger  than  the  Democratic  vote,  but  the  compact 
between  the  Republicans  and  the  Greenbackers  had 
held  good  from  start  to  finish,  and  Quay  won  the  most 
important  victory  in  the  State  that  was  gained  solely 
by  the  most  superb  political  strategy. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  at  the  September  elec- 
tion of  that  year  the  strong  Republican  State  of  Maine 
faltered,  and  the  Greenbackers  and  Democrats  elected 
the  entire  State  officers  and  both  branches  of  the  Legis- 
lature, defeating  Hale  for  Congress,  the  perfection  of 
Republican  strategy  in  Pennsylvania  may  be  under- 
stood. Quay  and  Mackey  began  early  to  perfect  the 
policy  to  divide  and  conquer  the  opposition,  and  they 
were  successful  at  every  stage  of  the  struggle.  The 
Republicans,  of  course,  carried  both  branches  of  the 
Legislature,  having  32  senators  to  15  Democrats,  2 
Greenback  Democrats,  and  i  National,  and  the  house 
had  107  Republicans,  78  Democrats,  7  Greenback 
Democrats,  3  Greenback  Republicans  and  6  National. 
It  was  in  this  campaign  that  Quay  made  himself  the 
acknowledged  Republican  master  in  the  State,  as 
Mackey  died  a  few  weeks  after  the  election,  and  Quay, 
green  with  the  laurels  of  his  great  victory,  became 
the  supreme  leader  of  the  party. 


a — 39 


498 


Old  Time  Notes 


XCVI. 

POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1878-9. 

Quay  Makes  Himself  Recorder  of  Philadelphia  with  Large  Compensation — 
Locates  in  Philadelphia  at  Eleventh  and  Spruce — Chairman  of 
Republican  State  Committee — Succeeded  by  David  H,  Lane  as 
Recorder — The  Office  Finally  Abolished — Quay  Becomes  Secretary 
of  the  Commonwealth  Under  Hoyt — The  Pittsburg  Four  Million 
Riot  Bill — Defeated  After  a  Bitter  Contest — Convictions  Followed 
for  Legislative  Venality — Quay  Nominates  Butler  for  State  Treas- 
urer— Serious  Hitch  When  Butler  Assumed  the  Office — How  the 
Treasury  Deficit  was  Covered — Cameron  and  Quay  Make  Earnest 
Battle  for  Grant's  Nomination  for  a  Third  Term. 

THE  disastrous  Republican  defeat  of  1877  made 
the  leaders  of  the  party  begin  at  once  to  per- 
fect the  organization,  and  to  devise  the  policy 
for  the  campaign  of  1878,  when  a  Governor  was  to  be 
chosen.  Mackey  lived  in  Pittsburg,  and  had  complete 
control  of  the  organization  in  the  Western  counties. 
Quay's  home  was  in  Beaver,  within  the  radius  where 
Mackey  could  direct  party  movements  without  the  aid 
of  Quay.  The  Camerons  were  centrally  located  at 
Harrisburg,  but  in  Philadelphia  they  had  no  great 
party  leaders. 

Quay's  political  methods  were  always  expensive, 
and  being  then  without  fortune  himself,  it  was  decided 
by  Quay,  Mackey  and  the  Camerons  that  the  office  of 
recorder  for  the  city  of  Philadelphia  should  be  revived 
with  greatly  enlarged  powers,  which  would  yield  to 
the  official  not  less  than  $30,000  a  year.  The  bill 
provided  that  the  recorder  should  be  appointed  by 
the  Governor  with  the  approval  of  the  senate,  and  did 
not  require  him  to  be  a  resident  of  Philadelphia  at 


Of  Pennsylvania 


499 


the  time  he  was  commissioned.  The  measure  was 
very  desperately  fought  by  most  of  the  Democrats 
and  some  reform  RepubHcans,  but  it  was  carried 
through  the  Legislature  and  approved  by  Governor 
Hartranft,  who  soon  thereafter  nominated  Quay  for 
the  position. 

It  required  a  two-thirds  vote  in  the  senate  to  con- 
firm him,  but  after  much  agitation  and  some  scandal 
the  confirmation  was  effected  by  the  aid  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic senator  from  York.  It  is  notable  that  for 
many  years  York  furnished  more  Democratic  legis- 
lators who  served  the  Republican  organization  than 
any  other  dozen  counties  of  the  State.  At  no  time 
during  the  political  rule  of  Quay  was  he  without  power 
over  the  Democratic  organization  in  York  County, 
and  in  1 901  it  was  the  direct  vote  of  a  Democratic 
member  from  York  for  Quay's  candidate  for  speaker 
that  enabled  him  to  get  control  of  the  house  by  the 
defeat  of  General  Koontz,  the  fusion  candidate.  Dem- 
ocratic demoralization  logically  followed  such  con- 
tinued commercial  Democratic  politics  in  one  of  the 
strong  Democratic  counties  of  the  State,  and  the  cul- 
mination was  reached  in  1904  when  the  Republicans 
carried  the  county  by  a  decided  majority. 

Quay  at  once  located  in  Philadelphia,  and  made  his 
home  in  a  large  double  house  on  the  northeast  corner 
of  Eleventh  and  Spruce  Streets.  He  believed  that 
with  his  official  power,  and  his  close  relations  with 
the  leaders  of  the  party  in  the  city,  he  could  dominate 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  while  Mackey  ruled  the 
west,  but  the  recorder  bill  was  very  odious  throughout 
the  State,  and  specially  odious  to  the  citizens  of  Phila- 
delphia, who  were  needlessly  taxed  to  furnish  a  large 
income  solely  for  the  benefit  of  a  political  leader. 
Quay  soon  discovered  that  the  office  he  had  wrung 
from  the  Legislature  weakened  rather  than  strength- 


500 


Old  Time  Notes 


ened  his  power,  as  there  was  very  general  disapproval 
not  only  of  the  creation  of  the  office  of  recorder,  but  of 
filling  it  with  a  political  leader  from  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Quay  discharged  his  duties  as  recorder  with  great 
moderation  by  neglecting  to  enforce  the  collection  of 
the  large  fees  he  could  have  commanded.  He  was  also 
made  chairman  of  the  State  committee,  and  devoted 
himself  exclusively  to  the  severe  duties  that  position 
imposed  in  the  gubernatorial  contest  of  1878.  He 
won  out  by  the  most  carefully -planned  and  well- 
executed  political  methods  which  have  been  described 
in  a  former  chapter,  and  when  Hoyt  v/as  elected  Gov- 
ernor he  was  ready  to  abandon  the  recordership,  and 
was  succeeded  by  David  H.  Lane,  one  of  the  most 
level-headed  and  widely-respected  of  the  local  Repub- 
lican leaders.  Lane  made  a  great  struggle  to  halt 
the  tidal  wave  that  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  recorder 
act,  and  proposed  to  revise  the  duties  and  preroga- 
tives of  the  recorder,  to  cut  off  extravagant  fees  and 
make  it  an  eminently  useful  position  to  the  public, 
but  public  sentiment  was  overwhelmingly  against 
the  whole  scheme,  and  the  recorder  bill  was  finally 
repealed. 

It  was  only  natural  that  Governor  Hoyt  should 
tender  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  commonwealth 
to  Quay,  and  it  was  done  soon  after  his  election  and 
promptly  accepted.  Hoyt  called  to  the  attorney 
generalship  Henry  W.  Palmer,  from  his  own  town,  a 
lawyer  of  eminent  ability  and  one  of  the  most  con- 
scientious of  all  our  Pennsylvania  officials.  The  Hoyt 
administration  would  have  been  rather  uneventful 
but  for  the  agitation  and  scandal  developed  in  the 
Legislature  of  1879  growing  out  of  what  was  commonly 
known  as  the  "Riot  bill,"  and  his  defiant  political 
deliverance  made  just  before  the  election  of  1882,  when 


Of  Pennsylvania 


he  declared  against  the  Republican  organization  and 
State  ticket  headed  by  General  Beaver. 

Several  millions  of  property  were  destroyed  by  the 
Pittsburg  mob  in  the  desperate  riots  of  1877,  in  which 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  was  almost  the 
only  sufferer.  The  laws  of  the  State  made  Allegheny 
County  liable  for  the  destruction  of  property  by  a 
mob  within  its  jurisdiction,  but  prominent  lawyers 
of  Pittsburg  invented  the  defence  that  the  mob  had 
been  provoked  to  violence  and  the  destruction  of 
property  by  the  State  ordering  its  militia  to  Pittsburg, 
thus  greatly  inflaming  the  riotous  spirit  of  the  people 
without  having  sufficient  military  force  to  protect 
person  and  property.  They  insisted  that  as  the  State 
had,  by  its  mistaken  military  movements,  caused  the 
destruction  of  property  by  the  mob,  the  losses  should 
be  paid  from  the  State  treasury  and  not  by  the  people 
of  Allegheny  County. 

This  theory  was  accepted  by  the  leaders,  and  it 
was  decided  to  pass  a  bill  making  an  appropriation  of 
some  $4,000,000  to  be  applied  to  the  payment  of 
property  destroyed  by  the  mob,  or  so  much  thereof 
as  might  be  needed.  This  bill  aroused  fierce  oppo- 
sition, not  only  throughout  the  State,  but  within  the 
Legislature,  and  the  measure  was  fought  with  despera- 
tion. A  large  lobby  was  brought  to  Harrisburg  to 
aid  the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  that  intensified  the 
opposition,  and  led  to  charges  of  the  employment  of 
corrupt  influences  to  command  the  approval  of  the 
Legislature. 

Just  when  the  battle  for  and  against  the  measure 
was  at  its  height,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  house 
providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five 
"  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  the  charges  made  by 
the  member  from  Union  (Mr.  Wolfe)  and  any  other 
improper  influences  brought  to  bear  upon  members 


502 


Old  Time  Notes 


in  connection  with  house  bill  103."  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  A.  M.  Rhodes,  C.  B.  Elliott,  Charles  S.  Wolfe, 
M.  P.  Doyle  and  G.  E.  Mapes.  It  began  its  inquiry  on 
the  24th  of  April  and  ended  on  the  23d  of  May,  when 
it  reported  to  the  house  declaring  that  eight  persons, 
including  three  members  of  the  house,  had  been  guilty 
of  corrupt  solicitation  and  should  be  prosecuted. 

The  prosecutions  were  tried  before  Judge  Pierson 
in  the  Harrisburg  quarter  sessions,  and  after  much 
legal  sparring  and  considerable  delay,  the  accused 
parties  decided  to  plead  guilty,  believing  that  they 
would  be  punished  only  by  fine,  but  to  the  overwhelm- 
ing surprise  of  the  defendants  and  the  very  general 
surprise  of  the  public.  Judge  Pierson  sentenced  them 
to  the  penitentiary,  and  that  error  of  the  trial  judge 
opened  the  way  for  their  pardon,  as  it  was  held  by 
Attorney  General  Palmer,  whose  integrity  and  ability 
were  unquestioned,  to  be  a  sentence  entirely  unwar- 
ranted. The  scandal  arising  from  the  efforts  to  pass 
the  bill  aroused  such  aggressive  opposition  that  the 
measure  was  abandoned,  and  the  riot  losses  were  finally 
amicably  adjusted  by  Allegheny  County. 

The  year  1879  was  an  off  year  in  politics,  as  the  only 
office  to  be  filled  was  that  of  State  treasurer,  and  Quay 
decided  upon  Samuel  Butler,  of  Chester,  as  the  party 
candidate  for  that  position.  That  nomination  was  de- 
signed as  a  tub  to  the  reform  whale,  as  the  Butler 
element,  in  which  Judge  Butler,  brother  of  the  candi- 
date for  State  treasurer,  was  an  important  factor  and  a 
candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  supreme  court,  was  not  in 
sympathy  with  the  machine.  When  the  leaders  decided 
in  favor  of  Butler,  the  reform  sentiment  of  the  State 
readily  acquiesced,  and  at  the  convention  held  at 
Harrisburg  on  the  23d  of  July,  of  which  Galusha  A. 
Grow  was  president,  Butler  was  nominated  by  accla- 
mation, and  that  convention  for  the  first  time  in  many 


Of  Pennsylvania 


503 


years  declared  in  favor  of  a  sound  financial  policy,  as 
Quay  had  won  out  with  it  in  the  election  of  Hoyt. 
For  several  years  prior  to  that  time  the  Republicans 
regarded  it  as  unsafe  to  make  a  distinct  declaration  in 
favor  of  the  gold  standard. 

The  Democratic  State  convention  met  at  Harris- 
burg  on  the  1 6th  of  July,  over  which  A.  H.  Coffroth 
presided,  and  Daniel  O.  Barr,  of  Allegheny,  was  nomi- 
nated for  State  treasurer.  The  Greenbackers  also 
held  a  convention  at  Altoona  on  the  15th  of  July,  and 
nominated  Peter  Sutton,  of  Indiana,  for  State  treas- 
urer, and  the  Prohibitionists  met  at  Altoona  on  the 
23d  of  September  and  nominated  W.  I.  Richardson, 
of  Montour,  for  the  same  office.  The  contest  was  not 
a  spirited  one,  as  the  Democrats  had  little  hope  of 
success.  The  result  was  the  election  of  Butler  by  a 
majority  of  58,438.  The  Greenbackers  had  fallen  down 
to  27,208  votes,  and  the  Prohibitionists  to  3,219, 
giving  Butler  a  decided  majority  over  all.  The  Legis- 
lature was  also  Republican  by  a  large  majority.  The 
senate  had  32  Republicans,  15  Democrats,  2  Green- 
back Democrats  and  i  National,  and  the  house  con- 
tained 107  Republicans,  78  Democrats,  7  Greenback 
Democrats,  3  Greenback  Republicans  and  6  Nationals. 

One  of  the  many  serious  troubles  injected  into  Quay's 
public  experience  occurred  when  State  Treasurer 
Butler  came  to  Harrisburg  in  the  spring  of  1880,  to 
take  charge  of  the  State  treasury.  Butler's  predecessor 
was  Mr.  Noyes,  of  Clinton,  a  man  of  unusual  intelligence, 
but  eminent  for  his  amiable  and  confiding  qualities. 
He  was  not  a  financier,  nor  had  he  any  knowledge  of 
banking,  anrl  hp  entrusted  the  management  of  the 
treasury  almost  entirely  to  Mr.  Walters,  his  cashier, 
who  was  a  very  shrewd  and  capable  man  with  a  fond- 
ness for  speculation. 

A  combination  was  made  by  Quay  with  several 


504 


Old  Time  Notes 


men  at  Harrisburg  to  speculate  largely  in  some  par- 
ticular stocks  about  which  they  believed  they  had 
a  reliable  tip,  and  without  Treasurer  Noyes  partici- 
pating in  the  operation,  and  most  likely  without  even 
knowing  it,  a  large  amount  of  the  State  money  was 
used  to  aid  the  speculators.  It  was  not  drawn  directly 
from  the  treasury,  but  loans  were  obtained  from  banks 
which  had  State  deposits,  with  the  assurance  that  they 
would  not  be  called  until  the  obligations  were  paid. 
It  was  common  in  those  days,  as  it  had  been  for  many 
years  before,  and  as  it  has  been,  as  a  rule,  from  that 
time  to  the  present,  for  State  treasurers  to  favor 
political  or  personal  friends,  or  serve  private  spec- 
ulative interests  of  their  own,  by  the  use  of  the  public 
money  in  the  treasury  just  as  Mr.  Noyes  did,  although 
in  violation  of  both  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  the  law. 

It  happened  that  the  stock  speculation  was  a  mis- 
venture,  and  a  large  amount  of  money  was  lost,  involv- 
ing Quay  in  the  most  serious  financial  troubles  he  ever 
experienced.  State  Treasurer  Butler  sternly  refused 
to  accept  the  assets  of  the  treasury  as  they  were  pre- 
sented to  him,  and  required  that  every  account  should 
be  put  upon  a  strictly  lav^^ful  basis,  to  obviate  all  per- 
sonal risk  on  the  part  of  the  new  treasurer.  Many  wild 
stories  have  been  published  by  the  vindictive  enemies 
of  Quay  relating  to  this  episode  in  his  political  career. 
Detailed  accounts  have  been  given  of  how  he  was  with 
difficulty  hindered  by  his  friends  from  plunging  into 
the  Susquehanna  and  ending  his  troubles  with  his  life, 
all  of  which  were  wholly  inventions  of  the  malice  that 
ever  pursues  successful  men. 

Quay  was  not  built  in  that  way.  I  have  seen  him 
in  many  very  severe  trials,  and  in  every  instance  the 
graver  the  difficulties  the  more  heroic  he  was  in  meet- 
ing them.  The  younger  Cameron  and  Kemble  promptly 
came  to  his  relief  by  advancing  a  large  amount  of  money 


Of  Pennsylvania 


that  was  probably  aided  by  liberal  deposits  from 
the  treasury,  and  in  a  few  years  Quay  was  able  to  repay 
his  friends,  with  a  raoderate  fortune  left  to  himself. 
He  was  bold  in  everything,  and  as  bold  in  speculation 
as  he  was  in  politics.  Three  times  dtiring  his  public 
career  he  would  have  been  utterly  bankrupt  if  called 
to  a  settlement  of  his  affairs,  and  he  was  as  many  times 
the  possessor  of  a  liberal  fortune.  He  was  evidently 
fortunate  in  his  financial  operations  during  the  tidal 
v\^ave  of  increased  values  that  occurred  several  years 
ago,  as  at  no  time  during  his  life  was  his  accumulated 
wealth  so  great  as  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  death  of  Mackey,  that  occurred  only  a  few  weeks 
after  the  election  of  Hoyt,  in  the  fall  of  1878,  was  a 
great  loss  to  Quay.  Mackey  was  one  of  the  safest  of 
advisers  in  finance  as  well  as  in  poHtics,  and  he  equaled 
Quay  in  boldness  of  conception  and  execution;  but 
while  Quay  lost  a  most  important  colleague  in  the 
management  of  the  Republican  organization,  of  which 
Mackey  was  always  the  acknowledged  leader,  the 
death  of  Mackey  made  Quay  practically  the  absolute 
arbiter  of  Republican  movements  and  policy  in  Penn- 
sylvania. He  had  the  benefit  of  the  counsels  of  both 
the  Camerons,  but  the  elder  Cameron  had  practically 
retired  from  active  participation  in  political  affairs, 
and  the  younger  Cameron,  while  most  valuable  in 
advising  and  directing  political  operations,  greatly 
preferred  that  some  other  than  himself  should  be  at  the 
front  and  take  the  honor  with  its  exacting  labors. 
Quay  was  thus  practically  in  charge  of  the  Republican 
organization  of  the  State,  and  never  was  forgetful  of 
the  necessity  of  wielding  his  authority. 

As  the  National  contest  of  1880  approached  it  pre- 
sented a  very  serious  problem  to  be  solved  by  Quay 
and  Cameron.  They  had  defeated  Blaine  for  the 
Presidency  in  the  Cincinnati  convention  of  1876,  after 


5o6 


Old  Time  Notes 


a  desperate  struggle  and  by  a  very  narrow  margin, 
and  Blaine  was  looming  up  as  an  apparently  invincible 
candidate  for  the  Presidential  nomination  of  1880. 
Both  Quay  and  Cameron  were  weary  of  Hayes  and 
distrustful  of  Blaine.  They  wanted  a  President  who 
would  be  in  thorough  accord  with  them,  and  not  quib- 
ble over  the  advancement  of  men  useful  in  politics, 
even  though  somewhat  shady  on  the  score  of  merit. 

They  very  much  wanted  a  Republican  President,  but 
they  felt  that  they  could  not  afford  to  accept  Blaine, 
although  they  were  confronted  by  the  fact  that  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  Republican  people  of 
the  State  were  earnestly  devoted  to  Blaine,  and  de- 
sired his  nomination.  Blaine  was  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, having  been  born  in  Washington  County, 
was  educated  in  the  State,  and  was  for  some  time  a 
teacher  in  the  deaf  and  dumb  asylum  of  Philadelphia  at 
Broad  and  Pine.  He  became  a  resident  of  Maine  by 
the  accident  of  marrying  an  accomplished  Maine  teacher 
in  Kentucky,  when  Blaine  held  a  position  in  one  of 
the  prominent  educational  institutions  of  that  State. 
His  wife's  strong  love  of  her  home  on  the  far  north- 
east coast,  decided  the  destiny  of  the  man  who  rose 
to  be  the  most  idolized  man  of  his  party  since  the  days 
of  Henry  Clay,  but  who,  like  Clay,  was  destined  never 
to  be  President. 

Blaine's  close  political  associations  in  Washington 
were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Quay-Cameron  asso- 
ciation, and  as  Quay  and  Cameron  had  defeated 
Blaine  for  President  in  1876,  by  sheer  manipulation 
that  made  Pennsylvania  practically  voiceless  in  the 
contest,  they  felt  that  they  had  little  to  expect  from 
Blaine  if  he  became  President.  The  differences  which 
existed  between  Blaine  and  the  Quay-Cameron  forces 
were  not  logical.  They  were  politicians  of  much  the 
same  type.     Blaine  believed  in    old-time  political 


of  Pennsylvania 


S07 


methods,  and  while  he  gave  a  passive  approval  to  the 
civil  service  ideas,  he  was  never  in  sympathy  with 
them.  His  political  theory  was  that  the  land  belonged 
to  the  saints,  and  that  his  party  were  the  saints,  but 
for  some  reason,  never  fully  understood  outside  the 
circle  immediately  interested,  Blaine  became  offensive 
to  Cameron,  Quay,  Mackey  and  Kemble,  and  the 
breach  was  steadily  widened  until  death  interposed  to 
end  the  contest.  They  could  have  made  terms  with 
Blaine,  as  Blaine  would  doubtless  have  agreed  to  their 
absolute  supremacy  in  Pennsylvania  if  he  became 
President,  but  they  were  entirely  distrustful  of  Blaine, 
and  rejected  all  of  the  many  overtures  which  were 
made  to  bring  the  warring  interests  into  harmony. 

Grant  was  the  ideal  President  of  the  men  who  were 
in  harmony  with  him.  He  never  quibbled  about  the 
demands  they  made  upon  him  if  it  was  within  his 
power  to  grant  them.  Grant,  after  having  made  a 
journey  around  the  world,  had  returned  home  and 
received  the  grandest  ovations  ever  accorded  to  an 
American  citizen.  It  was  believed  by  his  friends  that 
the  public  sentiment  was  so  strongly  in  sympathy 
with  him  that  he  could  be  nominated  and  elected  to  a 
third  term,  and  it  was  only  natural  that  Quay  and 
Cameron  should  turn  to  Grant  as  the  most  available 
man  to  serve  them  in  overthrowing  Blaine  in  the  con- 
vention of  1880. 

They  did  not  proclaim  their  preference  for  Grant, 
but  carefully  canvassed  the  State,  beginning  even 
before  the  advent  of  the  year  1880,  and  quietly  ar- 
ranged for  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  State  con- 
vention at  a  period  long  before  the  time  the  masses 
of  the  party  gave  any  thought  to  the  subject.  When 
the  work*  of  arranging  for  the  ejection  of  delegates 
was  completed,  an  obedient  State  committee  was 
summoned  and  a  snap  State  convention  was  called 


5o8 


Old  Time  Notes 


to  meet  on  the  4th  of  February  to  nominate  State 
officers,  and  select  delegates  to  the  National  convention. 

The  friends  of  Blaine  had  practically  no  knowledge 
of  the  systematic  movement  that  had  been  made  to 
give  the  State  to  Grant  until  they  were  astounded  by 
the  call  for  the  State  convention  at  the  earliest  period 
that  had  ever  been  named  for  the  meeting  of  such  a 
body,  and  when  they  attempted  to  organize  for  the 
election  of  delegates,  they  discovered  that  the  field 
had  been  carefully  gleaned  by  Quay  and  Cameron,  and 
that  it  was  impossible,  in  the  brief  period  they  would 
have  for  organization,  to  make  successful  battle  against 
the  machine.  The  result  was  that  Pennsylvania  was 
first  in  the  field  in  1880  with  her  State  convention, 
with  nearly  unanimous  instructions  for  Grant's  nomi- 
nation for  the  third  Presidential  term,  and  with  a 
practically  solid  Grant  delegation  instructed  to  vote 
as  a  imit  for  the  hero  of  Appomattox. 

Blaine  thus  lost,  at  the  very  opening  of  his  great 
battle  of  1880,  the  moral  power  of  the  second  State 
of  the  Union,  and  one  in  which  he  well  knew  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  Republicans  were  sincerely  and 
earnestly  anxious  for  his  nomination  as  the  candidate 
of  the  party  for  President,  and  when  the  vote  of  the 
National  convention  is  carefully  scanned,  any  intelli- 
gent student  will  understand  that  it  was  this  shrewdly 
conceived  and  boldly  executed  movement  of  Quay  and 
Cameron,  at  the  opening  of  the  year  1880,  that  defeated 
Blaine's  nomination  at  Chicago.  True,  Grant  fell 
with  him,  but  Blaine  lost  the  Presidency,  and  it  was 
Quay  and  Cameron  who  dealt  the  fatal  blow. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


509 


XCVII. 

POLITICAL  EVENTS  OF  1880. 

Quay  and  Cameron  Call  Early  State  Convention,  and  Declare  in  Favor 
of  Grant  for  a  Third  Term — Cameron  Chairman  of  National  Com- 
mittee— Ruled  Strongly  in  Favor  of  Grant  in  Preliminary  Proceed- 
ings— Reluctant  Support  Given  to  Garfield — Blaine's  Appointment 
as  Premier  Offensive  to  Quay  and  Cameron — State  Offices  Filled  at 
the  Election — Memorable  Speeches  in  National  Conventions  by  Inger- 
soU,  Conkling  and  Dougherty. 

CAMERON  and  Quay  were  compelled  to  face  a 
huge  proposition  as  1880  approached,  as 
Blaine's  nomination  for  the  Presidency  could 
be  defeated  only  by  the  diversion  of  Pennsylvania  from 
its  undisputed  favorite  candidate,  and  even  with  that 
accomplished,  most  exhaustive  efforts  were  required 
by  the  powerful  combination  that  had  accomplished  the 
defeat  of  Blaine  at  Cincinnati  in  1876.  Cameron  was 
then  in  the  Senate,  and  Quay  vv^as  secretary  of  the 
commonwealth  with  their  leadership  in  the  State  on 
all  ordinary  propositions  practically  undispiited,  but 
to  wrest  the  State  from  Blaine  in  1880  was  a  task  of 
great  magnitude,  and  it  could  not  have  been  accom- 
plished in  any  other  way  than  by  a  snap  movement 
that  precipitated  the  convention  earlier  than  any  had 
ever  been  held  before,  after  the  State  had  been  quietly 
organized  by  Cameron  and  Quay  when  the  Blaine  men 
were  entirely  off  guard. 

Long  before  the  advent  of  1880  Cameron  and  Quay 
had  quietly  organized  every  section  of  the  State  for 
the  election  of  delegates  to  the  State  convention,  and 
not  until  an  official  call  was  issued  for  the  convention 
to  meet  on  the  4th  of  February,  1880,  had  the  Blaine 


Old  Time  Notes 


people  any  intimation  of  the  movements  to  give  the 
State  to  Grant.  Even  with  all  the  advantage  the 
leaders  had  of  qtiiet  manipulation  when  the  Blaine 
people  were  patiently  waiting  for  the  time  to  act,  the 
instructions  for  Grant,  and  requiring  the  delegation  to 
vote  as  a  imit  for  his  nomination,  were  passed  by  a  vote 
of  133  to  113.  Had  there  been  an  open,  square  battle 
between  Blaine  and  Grant  in  the  State,  even  with  all 
the  power  of  the  organization  against  Blaine,  it  is  not 
only  possible,  but  quite  probable  that  he  would  have 
carried  a  majority  of  the  convention. 

Conkling,  then  as  supreme  in  New  York  as  Cameron 
and  Quay  were  in  Pennsylvania,  followed  with  an 
early  convention  in  that  State,  and  declared  in  favor 
of  Grant  with  like  instructions  to  the  delegation  to 
vote  as  a  imit.  Thus  the  two  greatest  of  the  States 
led  off  for  Grant,  and  for  the  time  his  nomination 
appeared  to  be  inevitable,  but  Blaine  had  a  vastly 
larger  popular  following  than  had  Grant,  and  it  was 
aroused  to  desperate  resistance.  Never  was  a  pre- 
liminary battle  for  the  Presidency  so  earnestly  con- 
tested as  in  the  struggle  between  Grant  and  Blaine 
in  1880.  Every  State  was  battled  for  with  desperate 
energy,  and  when  all  the  delegations  had  been  chosen 
to  the  National  convention,  Blaine,  with  the  field,  had 
a  clear  majority  against  Grant,  but  Grant  had  a  like 
clear  majority  against  Blaine. 

The  vote  in  the  convention  on  the  first  ballot  was 
304  for  Grant,  284  for  Blaine,  93  for  Sherman,  31  for 
Washburn,  34  for  Edmimds  and  10  for  Windom.  It 
was  a  struggle  of  giants,  and  the  convention  lasted  for 
more  than  a  week.  Thirty-six  ballots  were  taken,  and 
Grant  varied  from  304  to  309  until  the  thirty-fourth, 
when  he  reached  312,  and  on  the  thirty-fifth  his  high- 
est vote  was  obtained,  313.  On  the  thirty-sixth  and 
last  ballot  his  vote  fell  back  to  306.    Blaine  never 


of  Pennsylvania 


511 


exceeded  his  first  vote  of  284  on  any  of  the  many 
ballots,  but  polled  that  vote  several  times.  His  last 
vote  before  the  final  break  to  Garfield  was  257,  and 
on  the  final  ballot  he  received  only  42,  his  friends 
having  almost  bodily  gone  to  Garfield. 

The  nomination  of  Garfield  was  not  in  any  measure 
acceptable  to  Cameron  or  Conkling.  True,  they  had 
defeated  Blaine,  and  thus  accomplished  one  of  the  great 
purposes  of  the  combination,  but  they  long  hesitated 
to  give  a  cordial  support  to  Garfield.  The  friends  of 
Garfield  immediately  after  his  nomination  called  upon 
Conkling,  and  requested  him  to  indicate  a  candidate 
for  Vice-President,  but  he  refused,  in  the  contemptuous 
manner  that  he  so  often  exhibited,  to  give  any  inti- 
mation on  the  subject.  As  Arthur  was  a  delegate 
and  cast  the  vote  of  New  York  on  several  occasions 
when  Conkling  was  otherwise  engaged,  and  as  he  was 
known  to  be  the  special  favorite  of  Conkling,  the  Gar- 
field people  nominated  him  for  Vice-President,  but 
for  the  time  being  the  nomination  of  Arthur  did  not 
seem  to  temper  the  keen  disappointment  of  Conkling. 
Garfield  had  been  nominated  by  the  supporters  of 
Blaine,  and  Conkling  feared  that  Garfield  would  be 
much  more  friendly  to  Blaine  than  he  could  afford  to 
have  the  President.  I  saw  Garfield  and  Arthur  at  the 
general  reception  given  to  them  on  the  evening  after  the 
nominations  had  been  made,  and  the  occasion  was 
chiefly  notable  for  the  absence  of  Conkling  and  Cameron. 

The  nomination  of  Garfield  was  not  cordially  re- 
sponded to  by  the  followers  of  the  Republican  leaders 
in  either  New  York  or  Pennsylvania.  I  saw  Cameron 
frequently,  and  during  the  early  stages  of  the  contest 
he  did  not  regard  Garfield's  election  as  probable,  and 
was  not  disposed  to  lose  sleep  at  the  prospect  of  a 
Republican  National  defeat.  The  organization  in  the 
State  was  in  his  own  hands  with  John  Cessna  as  chair- 


Old  Time  Notes 


man  of  the  State  committee,  and  under  any  circum- 
stances the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  would  be  given  to 
Garfield,  but  New  York  was  then  regarded  as  certain  to 
vote  Democratic.  The  Republican  leaders  in  the 
Eastern  States  were  very  slow  to  organize  for  the 
National  battle,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  summer 
Garfield  was  so  much  alarmed  at  the  situation  that 
he  voluntarily  visited  New  York  and  stopped  at 
the  same  hotel  where  Conkling  made  his  home,  and 
although  Garfield  was  there  for  several  days,  Conkling 
never  called  upon  him. 

Later  in  the  struggle,  when  the  leaders  were  required 
to  decide  between  victory  or  defeat,  Conkling  was 
pressingly  invited  by  Garfield  to  visit  him  in  Ohio, 
and  after  a  conference  in  which  Grant,  Cameron  and 
others  participated,  it  was  decided  that  Conkling 
should  accept  the  invitation  and  confer  with  their 
candidate.  The  result  of  that  conference  was  that  the 
entire  Grant  combination  decided  to  give  an  earnest 
support  to  Garfield,  and  Grant  himself  went  so  far  as 
to  attend  a  meeting  and  deliver  a  public  address  in 
favor  of  the  Republican  candidate.  General  Hancock, 
who  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  had 
a  strong  hold  upon  the  people,  and  w^as  a  very  popular 
and  dangerous  antagonist  for  Garfield.  Thus  after 
having  been  apparently  quite  willing  for  Garfield's 
defeat  for  several  months  after  his  nomination,  the 
Grant-Cameron  combination  found,  when  they  de- 
cided to  elect  him,  that  they  had  an  immense  contract 
on  their  hands,  and  Garfield's  election  was  finally 
accompHshed  only  by  a  combination  with  Tammany 
that  made  them  betray  Hancock. 

The  first  blow  that  struck  the  Grant  leaders  after 
the  election  of  Garfield  was  his  public  announcement 
that  Blaine  would  be  called  to  the  premiership  of  his 
cabinet.     When  the  cabinet  was  sent  to  the  Senate 


of  Pennsylvania 


for  confirmation,  Cameron,  more  level-headed  than 
Conkling,  supported  it  in  its  entirety,  but  when  Blaine's 
name  was  read  in  the  Senate  Conkling  said  to  a  fellow 
Senator  that  he  must  either  retire  from  the  body  or 
hold  his  nose  to  escape  the  stench  of  Blaine's  name, 
and  he  quietly  adjourned  to  his  committee  room. 
Another  cabinet  nomination,  that  of  Wayne  MacVeagh 
for  Attorney  General,  had  peculiar  dual  significance. 
He  was  not  of  the  Grant  school  of  politics,  but  he  was 
the  brother-in-law  of  Senator  Cameron,  for  whom  the 
entire  Cameron  family  cherished  just  pride.  The 
appointment  of  MacVeagh  would  have  been  fully 
justified  entirely  on  his  own  merits,  as  he  possessed 
high  legal  attainments,  and  a  reputation  without 
blemish,  but  mere  individual  merit  and  fitness  sel- 
dom control  cabinet  appointments,  and  with  all  of 
McVeagh's  admitted  qualifications  for  the  Attorney 
Generalship,  Garfield  certainly  intended  the  appoint- 
ment as  a  compliment  to  the  Cameron  power  of  the  State. 

Conkling  had  no  faith  in  Garfield  after  the  appoint- 
ment of  Blaine,  and  he  was  not  a  m.an  who  concealed 
his  distrust  of  those  who  had  provoked  his  disfavor. 
Finally,  the  nomination  of  Robinson  for  collector  of 
the  port  of  New  York,  who  had  led  the  anti-Conkling 
forces  in  the  National  convention,  came  like  a  light- 
ning stroke  from  an  miclouded  sky,  and  he  and  Piatt, 
then  a  new  Senator,  in  a  sudden  fit  of  resentment,  sent 
their  resignations  to  the  Governor  of  New  York,  and 
started  home  confidently  expecting  to  command  a 
re-election.  Conkling  naturally  held  Blaine  responsi- 
ble for  the  nomination  of  Robinson,  but  Attorney 
General  MacVeagh  assured  me  that  Blaine  had  never 
suggested  the  appointment,  and  did  not  know  that  it 
was  to  be  made  until  the  President  had  acted  in  the 
matter.  The  desperate  and  disastrous  struggle  made 
by  Conkling  and  Piatt  for  re-election  to  the  Senate 


2—33 


514 


Old  Time  Notes 


need  not  be  detailed.  Before  the  battle  ended,  but 
when  all  hope  had  perished  with  the  supporters  of 
Conkling,  Garfield  died  from  the  wound  inflicted  by 
the  assassin  Guiteau,  and  Arthur,  who  was  at  Albany, 
as  Vice-President  struggling  for  the  re-election  of  his 
old  friend,  became  President  of  the  United  States. 

Two  State  offices  were  to  be  filled  at  the  election  of 
1880 — supreme  judge  and  auditor  general.  Henry  Green, 
of  Northam_pton,  was  then  serving  by  appointment  as 
justice  of  the  supreme  court  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  death  of  Justice  Warren  J.  Woodward,  and  he 
was  unanimously  nominated  for  election.  Senator 
John  A.  Lemon,  of  Blair,  was  nominated  for  auditor 
general  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving  158  votes  to  93 
for  Mr.  Passmore.  It  was  at  this  convention  that  Quay 
startled  many  of  his  followers  by  a  very  emphatic 
declaration  in  the  platform  in  favor  of  honest  elections, 
declaring  that  ''imtil  a  man  is  considered  infamous 
who  casts  an  illegal  vote,  our  government  will  not  be 
safe,  and  whoever  deprives  a  citizen  of  his  right  to 
vote,  or  of  the  legal  effect  of  his  vote,  is  a  traitor  to  our 
government."  With  this  he  demanded:  "An  honest 
count  of  all  votes  regularly  cast,  and  an  honest  return 
of  whoever  is  elected,  free  from  all  attempts  to  defraud 
the  people  of  their  choice  through  technicalities  or  by 
the  arbitrary  rejection  of  their  votes."  The  State 
ticket  presented  unusual  strength,  as  Justice  Green 
had  brought  to  the  court  of  last  resort  eminent  quali- 
fications alike  in  character  and  legal  attainments,  and 
Senator  Lemon  was  one  of  the  most  popular  men  in  the 
interior  of  the  State. 

The  Democratic  convention  met  at  Harrisburg  on 
the  28th  of  April,  and  after  selecting  delegates  to  the 
National  convention,  George  A.  Jenks,  of  Jefferson,  was 
nominated  on  the  first  ballot  for  supreme  judge,  and 
Colonel  Robert  P.  Dechert,  of  Philadelphia,  was  also  on 


Of  Pennsylvania 


515 


the  first  ballot  nominated  for  auditor  general.  The 
resumption  of  specie  payments  had  then  been  accom- 
plished, although  steadily  opposed  by  the  Democracy, 
but  the  State  convention  of  1880  made  a  bold  deliver- 
ance on  the  money  question  as  follows:  "That  the 
Democratic  party,  as  of  old,  favors  a  constitutional 
currency  of  gold  and  silver  and  of  paper  convertible 
into  coin."  Senator  Andrew  H.  Dill  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  State  committee. 

The  Greenback  State  convention  was  held  at  Har- 
risburg  on  the  23d  of  March,  and  nominated  Frank  P. 
Dewees,  of  Schuylkill,  for  supreme  judge,  and  E.  A.  L. 
Roberts,  of  Crawford,  for  auditor  general,  without  the 
formality  of  a  ballot,  and  a  resolution  was  adopted 
recommending  the  nomination  of  Hendrick  B.  Wright 
for  President.  The  Prohibition  convention  met  at 
Altoona  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  nominated  George  F. 
Turner  for  auditor  general,  but  declined  to  make  a 
nomination  for  supreme  judge. 

The  Greenback  element  had  been  practically  put 
out  of  business  by  the  complete  accomplishment  of 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  its  vote  was 
greatly  reduced  in  the  State.  Hancock,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and 
heroic  soldiers  of  the  war,  inspired  the  Democrats  to 
unusual  enthusiasm,  but  they  knew  that  the  State 
was  hopeless,  and  the  most  they  could  accomplish  was 
to  reduce  the  Republican  majority.  The  Legislature 
was  certain  to  be  Republican  in  both  branches,  and 
the  campaign  moved  on  in  this  State  without  any 
violent  efforts  on  either  side.  Philadelphia  gave  about 
20,000  Republican  m.ajority,  and  the  State  added 
18,000  more,  giving  38,030  majority  for  Judge  Green, 
and  37,276  majority  for  Garfield.  Weaver,  the  Green- 
back candidate  for  President,  received  20,068  votes, 
and  the  Prohibition  vote  fell  off  to  1,940. 


5i6 


Old  Time  Notes 


Two  memorable  speeches  were  made  in  the  National 
conventions  of  1880.  The  speech  of  Robert  G.  Inger- 
soll,  presenting  the  name  of  Blaine  in  the  Cincinnati 
convention  of  1876,  suddenly  crowned  him  with 
National  fame  in  a  single  day.  It  was  received  with 
imusual  enthusiasm  because  Ingersoll  was  little  known 
beyond  his  own  State  before  he  delivered  that  address, 
and  I  remember  well  when  Ingersoll  was  annoimced  at 
Cincinnati  as  the  man  who  was  to  present  the  name 
of  Blaine  to  the  convention,  there  was  very  general 
apprehension  that  he  would  not  be  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion ;  but  I  have  heard  many  able  speeches  in  National 
conventions,  and  never  heard  one  that  was  as  forceful 
and  impressive  as  that  of  Ingersoll  presenting  the 
name  of  Blaine  for  the  Presidency. 

Conkling's  speech  nominating  Grant  in  the  Chicago 
convention  of  1880  is  well  remembered  as  one  of  the 
grandest  efforts  of  his  life.  I  sat  on  the  platform 
within  ten  feet  of  him  when  he  rose  to  deliver  it.  He 
was  a  man  of  tmusually  handsome  face  and  form,  with 
a  manner  that  had  the  air  of  majesty,  and  when  his 
clear  silver  voice  rang  out  the  first  sentence  to  the 
convention  and  spectators,  making  an  assembly  of 
fully  10,000  people,  the  effect  was  electrical.  His  first 
utterance  was:  "When  asked  whence  comes  our  can- 
didate? we  say,  'from  Appomattox.'  "  It  was  a  bold, 
defiant  deliverance,  rather  assertive  than  persuasive,  but 
it  was  grand  in  eloquence  and  sublime  in  earnestness. 

The  late  Daniel  Dougherty  delivered  the  most  im- 
pressive address  of  his  life  before  the  Democratic  con- 
vention at  Cincinnati  in  1880  when  he  presented  the 
name  of  Hancock  for  the  Presidency.  Dougherty 
was  not  a  delegate,  and  had  taken  little  interest  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention  until,  after  a  long  delay, 
Tilden's  letter  of  declination  was  received,  when  he 
plunged  into  the  fight  and  urged  the  selection  of  Han- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


cock,  whose  nomination  was  practically  settled  just 
before  the  convention  met.  It  was  regarded  as  most 
important  to  have  some  one  present  Hancock's  name 
whose  address  would  be  fully  worthy  of  the  great 
occasion,  and  the  Pennsylvanians  at  once  suggested 
that  Dougherty  was  the  man.  A  member  of  the 
delegation  gave  Dougherty  a  substitution,  and  in- 
formed him  that  he  was  assigned  the  task  of  presenting 
the  name  of  Hancock  to  the  convention. 

Dougherty  never  spoke  on  important  occasions 
without  careful  preparation  and  thoroughly  commit- 
ting his  address  to  memory.  He  had  only  a  few  hours 
to  prepare  his  address,  and  that  doubtless  gave  it  the 
merit  of  brevity.  Within  an  hour  of  the  meeting  of 
the  convention,  Dougherty  came  up  to  me  in  front 
of  the  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  and  in  a  rather  excited 
manner  asked  me  to  step  around  the  corner.  I  did  so, 
and  he  requested  me  to  permit  him  to  recite  his  Han- 
cock speech,  and  suggest  any  revision  that  I  might 
think  necessary.  The  recitation  did  not  require  over 
six  or  eight  minutes,  and  I  was  the  sole  audience  while 
Dougherty  repeated,  in  smothered  tones,  but  with  all 
his  impassioned  manner,  the  magnificent  address  that 
gave  him  National  fame  as  a  political  orator.  It  was 
as  faultless  as  it  was  beautiful,  and  no  changes  were 
suggested.  The  speech  was  received  with  the  wildest 
enthusiasm  as  he  styled  Hancock  ''the  superb,"  and 
one  whose  record  was  as  stainless  as  his  sword. 
'  The  only  rift  in  the  lute  of  Dougherty's  eloquent 
presentation  of  Hancock  was  in  the  fact  that  Randall, 
of  Pennsylvania,  was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and  on  the  second  ballot  received  128^  votes  to  320 
for  Hancock.  Immediately  after  the  ballot  was  an- 
noimced  the  Pennsylvanians  changed  solidly  to  Han- 
cock, and  the  final  summing  up  of  the  ballot  gave 
Hancock  705  votes  to  33  scattering. 


518 


Old  Time  Notes 


In  Pennsylvania  the  Republicans  held  their  own  in 
the  Congressional  delegation,  electing  19  of  the  27 
Congressmen,  and  the  Legislature  consisted  of  32 
Republican  senators  to  18  Democrats  and  i  National, 
and  122  Republican  representatives  to  78  Democrats 
and  I  Greenbacker. 

While  occasional  murmurs  were  heard  in  different 
sections  of  the  State  against  the  Cameron-Quay  rule, 
everything  on  the  political  surface  indicated  entire 
harmony  and  unity  of  action  among  the  Republican 
leaders.  Hoyt  was  apparently  as  solidly  in  accord 
with  Cameron  as  was  Quay  himself,  and  none  then 
dreamed  that  they  were  just  on  the  threshold  of  the 
formidable  revolt  and  deadlock  of  the  Legislature, 
elected  the  same  year,  on  the  United  States  Senator- 
ship.  The  most  potent  of  political  revolutions  are 
often  started  in  a  single  day,  and  apparently  almost 
by  a  single  breath,  while  oftentimes  the  most  flagrant 
political  affronts  to  the  people  are  sullenly  submitted  to. 

Galusha  A.  Grow  had  made  an  earnest  canvass  of 
the  State  as  an  avowed  candidate  for  United  State 
Senator.  The  leaders  welcomed  him  as  an  efficient 
champion  of  the  Republican  cause,  fully  conscious  of 
their  power  to  defeat  him  in  the  caucus  for  Senator, 
and  thus,  as  they  supposed,  end  the  contest.  Grow 
is  not  of  a  revolutionary  type  of  political  leaders.  He 
is  as  amiable  as  he  is  able,  and  while  he  was  often 
grieved  at  the  action  of  his  party,  he  was  counted  on  as 
one  of  the  most  willing  to  bow  to  party  orders,  and  fall 
in  to  support  the  party  flag ;  but  the  imrest  of  the  inde- 
pendent element  throughout  the  State  had  been 
quietly  and  surely  widening  and  deepening,  and  an 
unusual  number  of  able  men,  independent  in  their 
tendencies,  were  in  the  Legislature  of  1881. 

From  under  this  apparently  serene  political  surface 
there  was  a  sudden  eruption  when  the  Legislature  met 


Of  Pennsylvania 


519 


that  dumfounded  the  leaders,  defied  their  mastery, 
held  the  Legislature  in  deadlock  on  the  Senatorship 
from  the  19th  of  January  to  the  23d  of  February,  and 
defeated  every  candidate  the  organization  presented; 
and  the  aftermath  of  that  contest  came  in  1882,  when, 
after  a  unanimous  nomination  for  Governor  by  an 
apparently  harmonious  party.  General  Beaver  was 
suddenly  confronted  by  an  independent  eruption  that 
defeated  him  at  the  polls. 


520 


Old  Time  Notes 


XCVIII. 

SENATORIAL  BATTLE  OF  188L 

Galusha  A.  Grow  Made  an  Active  Canvass  for  Senator — Henry  W.  Oliver 
the  Organization  Candidate — Serious  Revolt  Against  Quay-Cameron 
Rule — Forty-seven  Republican  Legislators  Announce  Their  Refusal 
to  Enter  the  Caucus — Oliver  Nominated  on  Second  Ballot — Received 
a  Majority  of  the  Entire  Republican  Vote  of  the  Legislature — Sena- 
tor John  Stewart  Leader  of  the  Revolt — Oliver  Withdrew  and 
General  Beaver  was  Made  Organization  Candidate — February  23d 
Both  Factions  United  on  Congressman  John  I.  Mitchell — He  Re- 
ceived the  Full  Republicans  Vote  and  Was  Elected — Wolfe, Independ- 
ent Candidate  for  Treasurer. 

THE  battle  between  Garfield  and  Hancock  for 
the  Presidency  did  not  call  out  extraordinary 
exertions  from  either  political  party,  as  the 
State  was  not  regarded  as  in  any  sense  debatable,  but 
both  sides  well  maintained  their  organizations,  and 
very  general  interest  was  exhibited  in  the  contest,  as 
is  common  in  all  National  elections.  The  one  question 
that  was  agitated  during  the  campaign  was  the  United 
States  Senatorship,  as  the  Legislature  would  be  called 
upon  to  elect  a  Senator  to  succeed  Senator  Wallace. 
Several  avowed  candidates  were  in  the  field,  but  the 
only  one  who  commanded  general  attention  and  re- 
ceived instructions  in  a  number  of  the  counties  was 
Galusha  A.  Grow,  who  had  served  a  dozen  years  in 
Congress  and  was  Speaker  of  the  House  during  the  first 
two  years  of  the  war.  He  was  not  in  favor  with  the 
Cameron-Quay  organization,  and  had  to  make  his 
battle  against  it.  The  organization  did  not  present  a 
candidate  during  the  campaign,  and  Grow  apparently 
had  the  field  largely  to  himself,  but  he  well  understood 
that  before  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  the  domi- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


521 


nant  political  power  of  the  State  would  determine 
upon  a  man  who  would  be  Grow's  competitor. 

The  man  who  was  preferred  by  the  regular  party 
organization  for  the  Senatorship  was  Henry  W.  Oliver, 
of  Pittsburg,  but  his  name  was  not  canvassed  before 
the  people,  nor  was  he  an  importunate  candidate.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  respected  and  successful  yotmg 
business  men  of  Pittsburg,  and  while  not  seeking  party 
favors,  he  had  been  a  very  efficient  supporter  of  the 
party  organization,  and  his  intimate  familiarity  with 
the  political  questions  of  the  time  may  be  understood 
when  it  is  known  that  he  drew  the  tariff  planks  of  he 
Republican  National  platforms  for  the  Cincinnati 
convention  in  1876,  and  the  Chicago  convention  of 
1880.  He  was  as  unassuming  as  he  was  courteous  in 
all  his  intercourse  with  his  fellows,  and  I  doubt  whether 
any  business  man  in  the  State,  of  his  years,  more 
thoroughly  understood  the  great  and  varied  interests 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  how  to  give  them  the  most 
practical  and  certain  development. 

His  quiet  manners  and  close  devotion  to  business  at 
home  made  him  a  comparative  stranger  to  the  public 
outside  of  his  immediate  business  circles,  and  when 
his  name  was  presented  as  the  candidate  of  the  organi- 
zation for  the  Senatorship  it  was  at  once  resented  by 
the  Independents  as, an  attempt  to  force  a  man  into 
the  position  of  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  who  lacked 
the  intelligence  and  culture  befitting  the  high  station. 
The  Independents  in  their  address  to  the  public,  after 
they  had  taken  their  revolutionary  attitude,  criticised 
Mr.  Oliver's  qualifications  as  follows:  "Wholly  inex- 
perienced in  public  life,  Mr.  Oliver  was  not  known  to 
the  people  of  the  State  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own 
county  until  named  in  connection  with  this  distin- 
guished position.  Why  one  so  obscure  should  have 
been  selected  out  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  as  the 


522 


Old  Time  Notes 


one  of  all  others  best  qualified  to  represent  the  State, 
is  not  for  us  to  explain." 

This  reflection  upon  Mr.  Oliver  was  far  from  being 
just,  and  the  Independents  who  thus  criticised  him 
finally  gave  a  united  vote  for  Mr.  Mitchell,  who  did  not 
approach  Mr.  Oliver  in  any  of  the  great  qualities 
necessary  to  make  an  efficient  and  respected  United 
States  Senator.  Oliver  was  not  an  orator,  not  so 
much  because  he  was  wanting  in  ability  to  engage  in 
public  disputation,  but  chiefly  because  his  life  pursuits 
exhausted  his  energies  in  other  directions,  and  his  dis- 
taste for  ostentatious  display  made  him  avoid  the 
platform,  but  no  man  would  have  more  intelligently 
mastered  every  problem  of  National  legislation,  or 
defended  it  more  intelligently  than  Mr.  Oliver  if  he  had 
been  called  to  the  Senate. 

He  never  was  justly  appreciated  by  his  party  or  the 
public  until  after  the  Senatorial  contest,  but  he  com- 
manded the  respect  of  friends  and  foes  by  his  chivalrous 
retirement  when  he  found  that  his  name  was  an  ob- 
stacle to  party  unity.  In  the  business  revulsion  that 
followed  a  year  or  two  later,  Mr.  Oliver  was  over- 
whelmed and  bankruptcy  appeared  to  confront  him, 
but  his  creditors  had  absolute  confidence  in  his  ability 
and  integrity,  and  they  generously  aided  him  in  his 
efforts  to  rehabilitate  his  broken  fortune.  In  a  few 
years  he  had  paid  all  his  obligations,  principal  and 
interest  in  full,  and  for  a  number  of  years  before  his 
death  he  was  one  of  the  multi-millionaires  of  Pittsburg, 
and  certainly  in  the  forefront  of  the  most  respected 
public -spirited  and  philanthropic  citizens. 

How  keenly  the  injustice  to  Mr.  Oliver,  by  his  defeat 
for  Senator  in  1881,  has  been  appreciated  by  the  party 
in  Pennsylvania,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  had  he 
been  living  he  would  have  succeeded  Senator  Quay 
without  a  contest;    and  Governor  Pennypacker,  in 


of  Pennsylvania 


523 


tendering  the  appointment  to  his  brother,  George  T. 
Ohver,  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Quay,  stated  that 
while  George  T.  Oliver  fully  possessed  the  character 
and  ability  to  justify  his  appointment  to  the  Senate, 
the  commission  was  tendered  to  him  largely  because  it 
would  in  some  measure  atone  for  the  wrong  to  his 
brother.  Mr.  Oliver  declined  the  appointment,  and 
it  was  then  tendered  to  Senator  Knox. 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  January,  1881,  it  was 
known  that  Mr.  Oliver  was  the  candidate  of  the  regular 
organization  for  the  Senatorship,  and  that  it  had  the 
power  to  force  his  nomination.  The  independent  sen- 
timent had  been  greatly  increased  and  intensified  by 
the  action  of  Cameron  and  Quay  in  calling  the  early 
convention  of  1880  and  wresting  the  State  from  Blaine 
by  sending  a  Grant  delegation  to  the  National  conven- 
tion. As  Grant  failed  to  obtain  the  nomination,  the 
party  harmoniously  united  in  the  support  of  Garfield, 
but  when  the  Independents  reached  the  contest  for 
Senator,  they  were  ready  for  revolutionary  work,  and 
Grow  was  their  favorite  candidate. 

The  Legislature  on  joint  ballot  contained  154  Repub- 
licans, 92  Democrats,  with  4  Greenbackers  and  Fusion- 
ists.  The  Republican  caucus,  to  nominate  a  Senator, 
was  fixed  for  January  13th,  and  on  that  day  47  Republi- 
can senators  and  representatives  signed  and  published 
a  pledge  to  stay  out  of  the  regular  caucus,  declaring 
that  in  their  belief  it  was  ''not  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  Republican  party  or  the  welfare  of  the  State 
that  we  should  go  into  a  caucus  for  the  election  of  a 
candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate." 

The  caucus  was  held  at  the  time  appointed,  at  which 
98  Republican  senators  and  representatives  appeared. 
The  first  ballot  gave  Oliver  51,  Snowden  12,  Grow  10, 
Gilfillan  5,  Bingham  5,  Ward  4,  White  2,  Stone  2, 
Koontz  2  and  Morrill  2.    On  the  second  ballot  Oliver's 


524  Old  Time  Notes 


vote  rose  to  63,  and  on  the  third  ballot  to  79,  being 
four  majority  of  the  entire  Republican  vote  of  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  he  was  declared  the 
nominee.  The  Democrats  in  caucus  renominated  Sen- 
ator Wallace  by  a  practically  imanimous  vote,  and  the 
Independents  lined  up  in  support  of  Grow.  On  the 
first  ballot  twenty  Republican  senators  voted  for 
Oliver,  12  for  Grow  and  16  for  Wallace,  with  i  for 
Agnew.  In  the  House  Oliver  received  75  votes,  Grow 
44,  Wallace  77  with  3  scattering.  The  vote  of  the 
joint  convention  footed  up  95  for  Oliver,  93  for  Wallace, 
56  for  Grow,  with  i  each  for  Agnew,  Brewster,  Baird 
and  MacVeagh. 

The  time  fixed  by  law  for  the  two  branches  of  the 
Legislature  to  meet  in  joint  convention,  having  failed 
to  elect  by  a  separate  vote  in  the  respective  branches, 
was  the  19th  of  January,  when  two  ballots  were  taken 
with  precisely  the  same  result.  On  the  17th  of  Janu- 
ary, the  day  before  the  two  branches  voted  separately 
on  the  senatorship,  two  addresses  were  issued  to  the 
public,  one  signed  by  Senator  McNeil,  of  Allegheny, 
and  chairman  of  the  Republican  caucus,  presenting 
to  the  people  of  the  State  the  attitude  and  defense  of 
the  regulars,  and  on  the  same  day  the  Independents 
issued  a  public  address  that  was  signed  individually  by 
fifty-five  members  of  the  senate  and  house  defending 
their  action,  and  opposing  the  election  of  Oliver. 

The  Democrats  had  sufficient  power  to  make  a  com- 
bination with  either  the  regulars  or  the  Independents, 
and  assuring  the  election  of  the  candidate  they  united 
in  supporting.  They  could  readily  have  made  advan- 
tageous terms  with  either  and  secured  fair  congressional 
and  other  apportionments,  but  Wallace  commanded 
the  Democratic  forces,  and  he  resisted  all  efforts  to 
make  a  combination  with  either  of  the  Republican 
factions.    He  was  an  intense  square-toed  Democrat, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


525 


and  was  naturally  averse  to  lowering  the  Democrats' 
standard,  as  he  regarded  it,  by  a  fusion  with  any  type 
of  political  opponent.  Wallace  not  only  acted  in 
accordance  with  his  own  tastes  in  standing  resolutely 
against  fusion,  but  he  was  willingly  repaying  an  obli- 
gation to  Cameron  and  Quay,  in  which  Mackey  was 
an  important  figure,  who  six  years  earlier  had  stood 
resolutely  against  the  fusion  of  the  Republicans  with 
the  Buckalew  Democrats  to  defeat  Wallace.  In  all 
Republican  factional  contests  Wallace  was  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  the  regular  machine. 

With  the  Democrats  thus  practically  eliminated  from 
the  contest,  it  became  a  struggle  of  endurance  between 
the  Republican  factions,  and  as  they  were  required 
by  the  law  of  Congress,  under  which  Senators  were 
then  and  are  now  elected,  the  joint  convention  was 
compelled  to  meet  every  legislative  day  and  vote  for 
Senator  until  one  was  chosen.  During  nearly  two 
weeks  the  opposing  lines  came  up  unbroken  day  after 
day,  but  by  the  time  that  the  second  Saturday  was 
reached  and  many  members  desired  to  go  home  and 
spend  Sunday  with  their  families,  as  was  their  habit,  a 
general  understanding  was  reached  that  any  members 
who  dseired  to  go  home  on  Saturday  should  be  at 
liberty  to  do  so,  and  that  neither  side  would  attempt 
to  rally  its  forces  and  elect  a  Senator  by  a  minority 
vote  because  of  absentees. 

Under  the  law,  if  a  bare  majority  of  the  entire 
Legislature  appeared  in  joint  convention  it  would  be 
a  legal  convention  with  a  full  quorum,  and  a  majority 
of  that  bare  majority  would  constitute  a  quorum  and 
could  elect  a  Senator.  It  was  necessary,  therefore, 
to  have  an  understanding  on  the  subject.  The  result 
was  that  on  the  second  Saturday,  Oliver's  vote  fell 
from  95  to  42,  Grow's  from  56  to  32  and  Wallace's 
from  93  to  47.    The  joint  convention  continued  to 


526 


Old  Time  Notes 


meet  in  the  hall  of  the  house  at  noon  each  secular  day 
of  the  week  from  the  19th  of  January  to  the  9th  of 
February,  without  any  change  in  the  monotonous 
grind  of  the  three  opposing  elements  casting  fruitless 
ballots  for  a  Senator. 

On  the  9th  of  February  Mr.  Oliver  addressed  a  com- 
munication to  the  Republican  members  of  the  assembly 
that  was  most  dignified  and  temperate  in  tone.  In  it 
he  said,  "  For  myself,  realizing  that  the  party  nominee 
cannot  be  elected,  owing  to  the  refusal  of  a  large  and 
respectable  number  of  Republicans  to  join  with  their 
brethren  in  the  choice  of  the  majority,  it  is  due  to  my 
supporters  to  say  that  I  am  no  longer  a  candidate,  and 
they  are  free  to  select  any  other  worthy  Republican." 
On  the  same  day  Mr.  Grow  addressed  a  letter  to  Sena- 
tor Davies,  one  of  the  Independent  Republicans,  in  which 
he  said:  Please  withdraw  my  name  as  a  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator  in  the  joint  convention  of  the 
Legislature,"  to  which  he  added  his  thanks  to  the 
senators  and  representatives  who  had  supported  him. 

The  regulars,  after  full  consultation,  decided  to  pre- 
sent the  name  of  General  Beaver,  and  they  believed 
at  the  time  they  did  it  that  the  Independents  could  be 
induced  to  accept  it.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  very 
trivial  circumstances  prevented  the  union  of  the  Inde- 
pendents with  the  regulars  for  the  election  of  Beaver. 
Factional  feeling  was  intensely  infiam.ed,  and  it  was 
quite  possible  for  an  accidental  expression  or  action  to 
prevent  a  union  of  the  belligerent  Republican  forces. 
The  Independents  finally  decided  to  support  Congress- 
man Thomas  M.  Bayne,  of  Allegheny,  and  the  first 
ballot,  on  the  loth  of  February,  gave  Wallace  86, 
Beaver  63  and  Bayne  62.  Daily  joint  conventions 
were  held  from  the  loth  of  February  until  the  2 2d 
without  any  change  in  the  struggle,  except  the  varying 
of  ballots  becatise  of  absentees.    Beaver's  highest 


Of  Pennsylvania 


527 


vote  was  80  and  Bayne's  highest  vote  was  62.  On 
Saturday,  the  19th  of  February,  the  total  vote  polled 
by  the  three  parties  was  69,  being  28  for  Beaver,  21 
for  Wallace  and  20  for  Bayne. 

On  the  17th  of  February  the  utter  hopelesness  of 
the  struggle  between  the  Republican  factions  was  well 
understood  by  all,  and  after  some  outside  consultations 
they,  on  that  day,  agreed  that  each  should  appoint  a 
conference  committee  of  twelve  that  should  be  em- 
powered to  select  a  candidate  for  Senator  who  must 
receive  a  two-thirds  vote  of  both  committees.  The 
Independent  committee  consisted  of  Senators  Davies, 
Lee,  Stewart  and  Lawrence,  and  Representatives 
Wolfe,  Silverthorne,  Mapes,  McKee,  Slack,  Stubbs, 
Miles  and  Derickson.  The  committee  of  the  regulars 
consisted  of  Senators  Greer,  Herr,  Smith,  Keefer  and 
Cooper,  and  Representatives  Pollock,  Moore,  Marshall, 
Hill,  Eshleman,  Thompson  and  Billingsley. 

The  joint  conference  committee  held  daily  sessions, 
and  balloted  for  a  candidate  without  result  until  the 
evening  of  the  2 2d  of  February,  when  they  unani- 
mously agreed  upon  John  L  Mitchell,  of  Tioga,  then 
Congressman  from  the  Sixteenth  District,  as  a  com- 
promise candidate.  On  the  morning  of  February 
23d  a  joint  Senatorial  caucus  attended  by  all  the  regu- 
lars and  Independents  was  held  in  which  Mitchell  was 
unanimously  nominated,  and  in  the  joint  convention 
of  that  day  the  vote  for  Senator  was:  Mitchell  150, 
Wallace  92,  MacVeagh  i  and  Brewster  i.  Thus  ended 
one  of  the  most  earnest  and  memorable  Senatorial  con- 
tests in  Pennsylvania,  that  was  surpassed  in  despera- 
tion and  endurance  only  by  the  jangled  Senatorial  con- 
test of  1855,  when  the  Know  Nothings  controlled  the 
Legislature,  and  when,  after  a  most  embittered  contest, 
the  Legislature  adjourned  without  electing  a  Senator, 
giving  the  Democrats  the  opportimity  to  elect  Gover- 


52S 


Old  Time  Notes 


nor  Bigler  the  following  year  when  they  had  gained 
control  of  the  Leigslature. 

Senator  Mitchell  was  accepted  by  the  Independents 
with  some  reluctance,  and  he  was  generally  regarded 
as  rather  more  acceptable  to  Cameron  than  to  the 
bolters,  but  he  was  universally  respected  by  senators 
and  representatives  of  his  section  of  the  State  that  he 
was  then  representing  in  Congress,  where  the  Inde- 
pendent sentiment  largely  predominated,  and  the 
pledge  was  given  by  his  supporters  from  that  region 
that  under  no  circumstances  would  he  become  subor- 
dinate to  the  regular  machine  domination  of  the  State. 
He  was  not  asked  to  give  any  pledge  for  himself,  and 
he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  entirely  free  from  any 
embarrassing  obligations,  but  he  fully  vindicated  the 
theory  presented  in  the  address  of  the  regulars  to  the 
people  of  the  State  defending  the  nomination  of  Oliver, 
in  which  the  following  deliverance  was  made:  "A 
compromise  means  temporary  relief  from  a  seeming 
difficulty,  and  weakness  and  decimation  for  years 
thereafter.  Compromise  imder  existing  circumstances 
means  previous  consultation  with  a  few  leaders,  who 
care  more  for  their  own  prejudices  and  hatreds  than 
for  the  unity  of  the  party.  The  selection  of  a  vacillat- 
ing man — the  usual  result  of  compromise — ^will  be  a 
source  of  constant  chagrin  and  demoralization." 

Mitchell  was  not  a  man  of  great  intellectual  force,  and 
until  his  bold  break  against  the  party  organization  one 
year  after  his  election  to  the  Senate,  he  was  always 
regarded  as  a  submissive  partisan.  Cameron  and 
Quay  felt  entire  confidence  that  he  would  act  with  the 
organization,  as  Cameron  had  accomplished  Mitchell's 
nomination  for  Congress  when  his  county  was  not 
entitled  to  it,  not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
success  to  Mitchell,  as  to  preclude  Senator  Strang 
from  a  future  election  to  Congress.    Mitchell  served 


Of  Pennsylvania 


529 


in  the  Senate  highly  respected  personally,  but  without 
any  conspicuous  legislative  achievement,  and  his 
Senatorial  career  is  now  chiefly  memorable  because  of 
the  bold  and  defiant  manner  in  which  he  assailed  the 
Cameron-Quay  organization  in  1882,  defeating  General 
Beaver  for  Governor,  and  transferring  the  State  to 
Democratic  authority. 

While  Senator  John  Stewart  ,of  Franklin,  was  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  Independents,  the  most 
aggressive  and  declamatory  of  the  bolters  was  Repre- 
sentative Charles  S.  Wolfe,  of  Union.  It  was  an  open 
secret  that  he  was  ambitious  to  be  elected  United  States 
Senator  by  a  fusion  between  the  Independents  and  the 
Democrats,  and  he  was  inflamed  to  desperate  hostility 
by  the  fact  that  Cameron  and  Quay,  of  the  regular 
Republicans^  and  Wallace,  leading  the  Democrats, 
were  acting  in  accord  against  fusion. 

Only  the  oflice  of  State  treasurer  was  to  be  filled  in 
1 88 1,  and  the  Republicans  did  not  call  their  convention 
until  the  8th  of  September,  when  they  met  at  Harris- 
burg,  and  the  Independents  locked  horns  with  the 
regulars  in  that  body  in  the  struggle  for  the  State 
treasurership.  Silas  M.  Bailey,  of  Fayette,  was  nomi- 
nated on  the  first  ballot  over  Senator  Davies,  of  Brad- 
ford, one  of  the  Independent  Republican  senators, 
by  a  vote  of  157  to  84.  Wolfe  attended  the  convention 
and  was  greatly  humiliated  by  the  overwhelming 
defeat  of  the  Independents.  On  the  following  day  he 
announced  himself  as  an  independent  candidate  for 
State  treasurer,  by  a  telegram  addressed  to  the  Phila- 
delphia ' '  Times. ' '  The  text  of  his  announcement  was  as 
follows:  ''The  black  flag  has  been  raised  against  the 
Independent  Republicans  of  Pennsylvania.  Please 
announce  that,  on  my  own  responsibility,  I  am  an  Inde- 
pendent Republican  candidate  for  State  treasurer  in 
full  sympathy  with  the  administration,  and  against 


2—34 


530 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  rule  of  the  bosses.  I  will  stump  the  State,  and 
give  my  reasons  for  this  action." 

The  Republican  leaders  were  startled  at  the  sudden 
and  defiantly  hostile  attitude  assumed  by  Wolfe,  and 
they  made  exhaustive  efforts  to  get  the  party  into  line. 
The  Democrats  held  their  convention  at  Williamsport 
on  the  28th  of  September,  and  nominated  Orange 
Noble,  of  Erie,  for  State  treasurer,  and  for  a  time  it 
looked  as  if  the  Independents  would  overwhelm  the  regu- 
lars by  the  election  of  a  Democratic  State  treasurer. 

Wolfe  fulfilled  his  promise  and  spoke  in  different 
sections  of  the  State,  but  failed  to  make  any  serious 
impression  upon  the  party  organization.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  disappointed  political  aspirant,  and  that 
greatly  weakened  his  cause,  but  he  fought  the  fight  out 
with  desperation  until  election  day.  Senator  Cooper 
was  chairman  of  the  State  committee,  and  managed 
the  Republican  battle  with  great  skill.  It  was  an  off 
year,  and  the  Democrats,  having  known  little  else  than 
defeat  for  twenty  years,  could  not  be  organized  to  poll 
a  full  vote,  while  the  more  vital  and  completely 
equipped  Republican  organization  brought  out  a  suffi- 
cient proportion  of  its  voters  to  elect  Bailey  by  6,824 
plurality,  while  Wolfe  polled  49,984  votes.  It  was  a 
great  opportunity  for  the  Democrats,  but  they  were 
lacking  alike  in  organization  and  vitality,  and  the 
regular  Republican  organization  won  out  even  with 
50,000  defection  in  favor  of  an  Independent  Republi- 
can candidate. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


531 


XCIX. 

PATTISON  ELECTED  GOVERNOR. 

The  Independent  Republican  Revolt  —  Davies  Defeated  for  State  Treas- 
urer—  This  Led  to  Full  Independent  State  Ticket  in  1882  —  Futile 
Offers  of  Compromise  —  Pattison  Nominated  for  Governor  by  the 
Democrats  —  Senator  John  Stewart  as  the  Independent  Leader  — 
C  c  ter  of  the  Campaign  —  The  Democratic  Ticket  Elected  by  In- 
dependent Republican  Votes. 

WHILE  the  Republican  factions  seemed  to  have 
been  very  cordially  united  in  the  election  of 
Mitchell  to  the  Senate  in  1881,  the  Independ- 
ent revolt  against  the  dominant  power  of  the  party 
pervaded  every  section  of  the  State,  and  the  Independ- 
ents felt  that  they  had  little  to  expect  from  the  leaders 
of  the  party  then  in  power.  At  the  Republican  State 
convention  of  1881,  when  there  was  only  a  State  treas- 
urer to  elect,  the  Independents  urged  the  nomination 
of  Senator  Davies,  of  Bradford,  who  had  been  promi- 
nent among  the  Independent  senators  in  the  Legis- 
lative battle  that  resulted  in  the  election  of  Mitchell. 

Had  the  Republican  leaders  been  wise,  they  would 
have  accepted  Davies  and  thus  ended  the  dispute,  but 
the  State  treasurer  was  too  important  to  the  organiza- 
tion, and  Davies  was  defeated  by  a  decided  majority, 
and  Mr.  Bailey,  the  slated  candidate  of  the  leaders,  was 
nominated  on  the  first  ballot.  On  the  following  day 
Charles  S.  Wolfe's  card  was  published  all  over  the  State 
announcing  himself  as  an  Independent  candidate  for 
State  treasurer,  giving  as  the  reason  that  the  black 
flag  had  been  hoisted  over  the  Independents  by  the 
leaders,  doubtless  referring  to  the  defeat  of  Davies  in 


532 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  State  convention.  The  Independent  organization 
was  thus  continued,  and  as  is  usual  in  all  factional 
fights,  the  estrangement  was  widened  and  deepened 
every  day. 

The  Independents  took  the  initiative  for  the  impor- 
tant contest  of  1882  that  involved  the  election  of 
Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  secretary  of  internal 
affairs,  judge  of  the  supreme  court,  and  Congress- 
man-at-Large.  They  began  their  movement  to  fight 
out  the  battle  against  the  bosses  on  the  i6th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1 88 1,  when  the  State  committee  of  Independents 
issued  a  call  signed  by  1.  D.  McKee,  chairman,  and 
Frank  Willing  Leach,  secretary,  asking  the  Independ- 
ents to  send  representatives  from  each  county  to  a 
State  conference  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the  12th 
of  January,  1882,  to  consider  the  question  of  nominating 
an  Independent  Republican  State  ticket. 

This  conference  was  held  four  months  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  regular  Republican  State  convention,  and 
was  intended  to  take  such  action  as  would  force  the 
regular  organization  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the 
revolutionists.  At  that  conference  it  was  decided  to 
hold  a  State  convention  for  the  nomination  of  a  State 
ticket  on  the  24th  of  May,  which  would  be  two  weeks 
after  the  regular  Republican  convention  was  to  be  held 
at  Harrisburg,  on  the  loth  of  the  same  month.  Thus, 
the  two  calls  for  the  regular  and  the  Independent 
Republican  conventions  were  both  issued  several 
months  before  the  time  of  meeting,  and  the  leaders  of 
the  Regulars  at  once  began  negotiations  to  unite  the 
conventions  on  the  same  ticket  and  platform. 

After  some  outside  conference  it  was  agreed  that  a 
committee  should  be  appointed  by  the  organization  of 
each  of  the  two  factions  to  consult  on  the  subject  of 
the  party  differences.  The  Independents  selected 
Charles  S.  Wolfe,  I.  D.  McKee,  Francis  B.  Reeves, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


533 


J.  W.  Lee  and  Wharton  Barker,  and  the  regulars, 
appointed  by  Chairman  Cooper,  were  M.  S.  Quay,  John 
F.  Hartranft,  C.  L.  Magee,  Howard  J.  Reeder  and 
Thomas  Cochran.  These  committees  had  a  prelimi- 
nary conference  in  Philadelphia  on  the  20th  of  April, 
when  they  adjourned  to  meet  on  the  evening  of  May 
I  St,  at  which  they  agreed  upon  peace  propositions, 
in  which  every  point  in  dispute  was  substantially  con- 
ceded to  the  Independents. 

The  peace  resolutions  unequivocally  condemned 
the  use  of  patronage  to  promote  personal  or  political 
ends,  demanded  protection  of  competent  and  faithful 
officers  against  removal,  obedience  to  the  popular  will 
of  the  State  in  the  National  convention,  prohibited 
compulsory  assessments  for  political  purposes,  and 
the  provisions  asked  for  by  the  Independents  for  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  State  conventions,  and 
prohibiting  snap  conventions,  with  an  open  declaration 
that  all  Republicans,  Independents  and  Regulars, 
should  participate  in  party  primary  elections.  This 
declaration  of  principles  and  party  policy  was  signed 
by  every  member  of  the  two  committees  nine  days 
before  the  Regular  Republican  convention  met. 

Judging  the  dispute  by  the  records  made,  and  the 
agreement  reached  by  the  opposing  factions,  it  would 
seem  that  there  was  no  further  groimd  for  continued 
revolt  against  the  regular  organization,  but  the  Inde- 
pendents knew  that  the  Regular  leaders  were  not  sin- 
cere in  their  devotion  to  civil  service  reform,  and  had 
little  faith  in  their  purpose  to  accept  in  its  full  and  fair 
letter  and  spirit  the  agreement  that  had  been  made. 
It  was  this  distrust  that  made  the  Independent  com- 
mittee issue  an  address  on  the  3d  of  May  urging  the 
Independents  to  a  full  representation  at  the  State 


534 


Old  Time  Notes 


convention  to  meet  in  Philadelphia  on  the  24th  of  May 
for  the  nomination  of  State  candidates. 

In  that  address  it  was  declared  that  if  the  Regular 
Republican  convention,  to  meet  on  the  loth  of  May, 
"  failed  to  nominate  as  its  candidates  men  who  in  their 
character,  antecedents  and  affiliations  are  embodi- 
ments of  the  principles  of  true  Republicanism  free 
from  the  iniquities  of  bossism,"  such  nominations 
''should  be  emphatically  repudiated  by  the  Inde- 
pendent convention." 

The  Regular  Republican  convention  convened  at 
Harrisburg  on  the  loth  of  May.  I  witnessed  its  pro- 
ceedings, and  noted  the  fact  that  but  one  sentiment 
seemed  to  prevail  in  the  body,  and  that  was  to  place 
the  party  in  a  position  to  command  the  support  of  all 
fair-minded  Independents.  General  Beaver  was  nomi- 
nated for  Governor  by  acclamation,  and  Senator 
Davies,  of  Bradford,  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  senate  in 
the  Independent  movement  in  the  Legislature  of  1881, 
was  also  nominated  by  acclamation  as  the  candidate 
for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket.  John  M.  Greer,  of 
Butler,  was  nominated  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs ; 
William  Henry  Rawle,  of  Philadelphia,  for  supreme 
judge,  and  Thomas  M.  Marshall  for  Congressman-at- 
Large.  The  platform  declared  in  favor  of  every  feature 
of  reform  demanded  by  the  Independents,  even  to  the 
minutest  details. 

The  Independents  had  been  conceded  the  nomina- 
tion for  lieutenant  governor,  an  office  that  is  important 
only  to  the  man  who  holds  it.  It  is  absolutely  with- 
out power  in  legislation,  and  usually  without  a  voice 
in  the  dispensation  of  patronage.  William  Henry 
Rawle,  who  was  nominated  for  supreme  judge,  was 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  aggressive  of  the  reform 
Republicans  of  Philadelphia,  but  as  his  office  was  with- 
out patronage,  the  Independents  saw  that  all  the  can- 


of  Pennsylvania 


535 


didates  for  offices  wherein  political  influence  could  be 
wielded  had  been  accorded  to  the  Regulars. 

The  result  was  that  the  Independents  held  their 
convention  in  Philadelphia  on  the  24th  of  May,  and  it 
had  the  appearance  of  a  sudden  volcanic  eruption. 
Senator  Mitchell,  usually  one  of  the  most  submissive 
of  party  leaders,  was  there  and  fierce  as  the  tigress 
defending  her  cubs,  while  from  every  section  of  the 
State  came  men  of  high  character  and  intelligence,  who 
commanded  for  the  convention  the  highest  measure  of 
respect. 

There  was  no  personal  objection  to  General  Beaver, 
who  was  one  of  the  purest  and  cleanest  men  of  the 
State,  with  a  most  gallant  record  as  a  soldier,  losing 
his  right  leg  in  battle,  but  they  distrusted  the  power 
that  had  nominated  him,  and  that  they  feared  would 
dominate  him,  and  the  many  qualities,  which  under 
ordinary  circumstances  would  have  argued  so  strongly 
in  his  favor,  were  powerless  against  the  aggressive 
earnestness  of  the  Independents. 

The  Independent  platform  was  practically  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  reforms  which  had  been  agreed  upon  by  the 
two  factional  committees,  to  which  was  added  the 
following:  ''We  demand,  instead  of  the  insolence,  the 
proscription  and  the  tyranny  of  the  bosses  and  machine 
rulers,  the  free  and  conscientious  exercise  of  private 
judgment  in  political  affairs,  and  the  faithful  discharge 
by  those  who  assume  representative  trust  of  the  ex- 
press will  of  the  people." 

Senator  John  Stewart,  of  Franklin,  was  nominated 
for  Governor  by  a  vote  of  139  to  62  for  Judge  Agnew, 
Levi  Budd  Duff,  of  Allegheny,  was  nominated  for 
lieutenant  governor,  George  W.  Merrick,  of  Tioga, 
for  secretary  of  internal  affairs,  William  Mc Michael, 
of  Philadelphia,  for  Congressman-at-Large,  and  George 
Junkin,  of  Philadelphia,  for   supreme  judge.  The 


536 


Old  Time  Notes 


Independents  selected  altogether  their  best  equipped 
man  for  such  a  battle  when  they  nominated  Senator 
Stewart ;  a  man  of  sterling  honesty,  of  unfaltering  fear- 
lessness, eminently  able  and  always  aggressive  when 
called  into  conflict.  His  record,  alike  as  citizen  and 
soldier,  was  unblemished,  and  his  mingled  logic  and 
eloquence  as  a  campaigner  made  many  thovisands  re- 
solve their  doubts  in  favor  of  the  Independent  cause. 

Exhaustive  efforts  were  made  by  the  Regulars  after 
the  nomination  of  the  Independent  ticket  to  reach  an 
adjustment  of  the  differences,  and  unite  the  party  to 
avert  defeat.  The  Regulars  were  quite  willing  to  con- 
cede any  place  on  the  ticket  except  that  of  Governor. 
They  could  not  afford  to  have  a  resolute  and  fearless 
Independent  in  the  position  of  Governor  for  four  years. 

Thomas  M.  Marshall  had  been  nominated  by  the 
Regulars  for  Congressman- at- Large,  and  after  some 
hesitation  formally  declined  to  be  a  candidate,  and 
the  regular  convention  was  reconvened  at  Harrisburg 
early  in  June,  and  nominated  Marriott  Brosius  to  take 
his  place.  This  convention  took  the  initiative  to  bring- 
about  a  union  of  the  two  factions  upon  one  ticket,  and 
a  formal  communication  was  addressed  to  Chairman 
McKee,  of  the  Independent  committee,  and  it  was  at 
once  communicated  to  the  Independent  candidates. 

On  the  13  th  of  July  a  letter  signed  by  Stewart,  Duff, 
Merrill  and  Junkin,  of  the  Independent  ticket,  was  ad- 
dressed to  General  Beaver  and  the  other  Republican 
candidates,  who,  after  stating  their  position,  proposed 
that  all  the  candidates  on  both  tickets  should  withdraw, 
and  that  none  of  them  should  accept  a  nomination 
from  any  convention  that  year.  New  primaries  were 
to  be  held  in  which  all  Republicans  were  to  be  at  lib- 
erty to  participate,  believing  that  such  a  convention 
would  nominate  an  acceptable  ticket.    Mr.  McMichael, 


Of  Pennsylvania 


537 


the  Independent  candidate  for  Congressman-at-Large, 
refused  to  join  in  the  proposal  to  decline. 

On  the  1 5th  of  July  General  Beaver  and  all  his  fellow 
Republican  candidates  united  in  a  letter  to  Chairman 
Cooper  in  answer  to  the  letter  they  had  received  from 
the  Independent  candidates,  declining  to  accept  the 
proposition,  in  which  they  said:  ''To  say  that  in  the 
effort  to  determine  whether  or  not  our  nomination  was 
the  free  and  unbiased  choice  of  the  Republican  party 
we  must  not  be  candidates,  is  simply  to  try  the  ques- 
tion at  issue."  Thus  ended  the  efforts  of  the  leaders 
of  the  two  Republican  factions  to  attain  unity  in  1882. 
Everything  that  gave  promise  of  unity  had  been  ex- 
hausted, and  the  question  of  harmonizing  was  never 
afterwards  raised  during  the  contest.  Both  the  fac- 
tions stripped  for  the  battle,  and  it  was  universally 
accepted  as  a  fight  to  a  finish. 

The  Democrats  fully  appreciated  the  advantage  that 
the  divided  Republican  party  gave  them,  and  they 
were  very  fortunate  in  presenting  a  candidate  for 
Governor  who  had  twice  been  elected  by  the  aid  the 
reform  element  had  given  to  the  Democratic  party  to 
the  office  of  controller  of  Philadelphia,  in  which  posi- 
tion he  had  discharged  his  duties  with  unfaltering 
fidelity. 

The  Democratic  State  convention  met  at  Harris- 
burg  on  the  28th  of  June,  with  George  M.  Dallas  as 
permanent  president.  William  U.  Hensel  presented  a 
very  carefully  prepared  and  conservative  platform, 
which  was  unanimously  adopted.  The  contest  for 
Governor  seemed  to  be  narrowed  to  Robert  E.  Pattison 
and  ex-Congressman  James  H.  Hopkins,  of  Allegheny, 
with  a  number  of  candidates  receiving  a  scattering 
vote.  On  the  first  ballot  Hopkins  received  87  to  61^ 
for  Pattison,  but  Pattison 's  vote  steadily  increased 
until  the  sixth  ballot,  when  he  received  126^  to  119^ 


538 


Old  Time  Notes 


for  Hopkins,  with  two  scattering.  Chauncey  F.  Black 
was  nominated  for  lieutenant  governor,  and  Silas  M. 
Clark  for  supreme  judge,  J.  Simpson  Africa  for  secre- 
tary of  internal  affairs,  and  M.  F.  Elliott  for  Congress- 
man-at-Large. 

Pennsylvania  had  thus  presented  to  her  people  three 
candidates  for  Governor,  all  men  of  distinction,  and  all 
of  unblemished  reputations.  General  Beaver  addressed 
the  convention  after  the  nomination,  in  which  he  said: 
"  I  have  made  no  pledges  to  living  man  as  to  what  my 
future  course  shall  be.  I  can  make  none  now  or  here- 
after except  this — in  the  approaching  political  cam- 
paign the  harmony  and  success  of  the  Republican  party 
shall  be  the  one  great  object  of  desire  and  effort  on 
my  part." 

Senator  Stewart  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
that  nominated  him  for  Governor,  and  accepted  the 
position  in  a  brief  speech,  in  which  he  said:  ''The 
Harrisburg  convention  would  send  the  Republican 
party  on  a  mission  not  of  principles,  but  of  spoils.  We 
would  have  the  grand  old  organization  disenthralled 
and  redeemed.  I  say  disenthralled  because  Pennsyl- 
vania is  to-day  in  a  state  of  vassalage,  of  bondage,  and 
the  voice  of  the  honest  people  of  Pennsylvania  has  not 
been  represented  in  a  Republican  convention  in  a 
decade.  It  is  from  that  control  that  we  would  deliver 
her." 

The  Commonwealth  Club,  of  Philadelphia,  gave  an 
enthusiastic  reception  to  Pattison  soon  after  the  con- 
vention adjourned,  at  which  he  presented  his  acceptance, 
in  which  he  said:  There  is  a  widespread  discontent  at 
what  is  forcibly  called  boss  government.  This  is  not 
without  much  reason.  Popular  discontent  has  gener- 
ally good  cause,  for  the  people  have  no  advantage  in 
unnecessary  agitation  and  disorder.    The  great  evil 


Of  Pennsylvania 


539 


of  boss  government  is  that  the  interest  of  the  official 
is  made  inimical  to  faithful  public  service. 

The  Prohibitionists  held  a  convention  at  Altoona  on 
the  23d  of  April,  and  nominated  A.  C.  Pettitt  for 
Governor,  with  a  full  ticket.  The  Greenback  State 
convention  was  held  on  the  i8th  of  May,  and  nomi- 
nated Thomas  A.  Armstrong  for  governor,  and  the 
Labor  convention  met  in  Philadelphia  on  the  28th  of 
August,  and  indorsed  the  nomination  of  Armstrong. 

The  Republicans  did  not  regard  the  battle  as  entirely 
hopeless,  as  they  had  elected  their  candidate  for  State 
treasurer  the  year  before,  with  the  Independents  in  the 
field  supporting  Wolfe,  who  polled  nearly  50,000  votes, 
but  they  did  not  at  first  appreciate  the  increased  earn- 
estness, as  well  as  the  enlarged  numbers,  of  the  Inde- 
pendents, which  had  been  created  by  a  year  of  constant 
friction  between  the  factions.  They  counted  largely 
on  the  high  character  and  war  record  of  General 
Beaver  to  command  the  soldier  vote  of  the  State,  but 
failed  to  reckon  the  advantage  the  Independents  had 
in  presenting  an  equally  gallant  but  more  fortunate 
soldier  at  the  head  of  their  ticket,  with  McMichael, 
another  honored  soldier,  as  the  candidate  for  Congress- 
man-at-Large. 

The  Independent  Republicans  had  no  hope  of  elect- 
ing their  ticket.  They  could  doubtless  have  made  a 
fusion  with  the  Democrats  and  swept  the  State  by  a 
large  majority,  but  they  stood  squarely  on  the  platform 
of  what  they  declared  to  be  honest  Republicans  and 
fought  out  their  battle  with  the  single  purpose,  as 
Senator  Stewart  declared  it,  to  disenthrall  the  State 
from  the  oppression  of  boss  rule.  In  other  words,  the 
battle  of  the  Independents  v\^as  directed  solely  to  the 
defeat  of  the  regular  Republican  ticket,  and  that  pur- 
pose was  well  understood  by  those  who  managed  the 
organizations  involved  in  the  struggle. 


540 


Old  Time  Notes 


The  three  candidates  for  Governor  were  all  able  and 
popular  campaigners,  and  they  enthused  their  friends 
by  addressing  large  assemblies  in  every  section  of  the 
State.  The  Republican  organization  was  in  the  hands 
of  Senator  Cooper,  who  was  a  most  accomplished  chief- 
tain in  a  desperate  contest.  He  brought  the  regulars 
into  the  most  perfect  organization,  and  as  the  election 
approached  they  seemed  to  have  increased  confidence 
in  the  success  of  their  ticket,  and  the  organization 
boldly  predicted  a  decisive  victory  over  both  the  Demo- 
crats and  the  Independents. 

While  under  ordinary  conditions  such  political 
methods  would  have  been  highly  advantageous,  it 
proved  to  be  unfortunate  for  the  Regulars,  as  it  changed 
the  action  of  many  thousands  of  Independents  who 
sincerely  desired  Stewart's  election,  but  who  voted 
directly  for  Pattison  to  assure  the  defeat  of  the  Regu- 
lar ticket.  This  is  evident  from  an  examination  of  the 
results  of  the  election.  Wolfe  polled  nearly  48,000 
Independent  Republican  votes  the  year  before,  when 
the  Independent  organization  was  feeble  in  comparison 
with  its  strength  in  1882,  but  Stewart  received  5,000 
less  votes  in  the  State  than  were  given  to  Wolfe. 

In  Philadelphia,  where  the  Republicans  could  readily 
command  a  majority  of  30,000  or  more  in  a  square 
contest,  and  where  the  Independent  sentiment  was 
stronger  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  State,  Stewart 
received  only  7,999  votes,  while  Pattison's  vote  was 
within  nearly  3,000  of  Beaver's.  The  vote  of  Alle- 
gheny exhibited  a  like  landslide  of  the  Independents  to 
Pattison,  where  Stewart  received  only  4,726  votes, 
while  Beaver  had  less  than  2,000  plurality  over  Patti- 
son. In  Tioga  County,  the  home  of  Mitchell,  the  vote 
was  very  nearly  evenly  divided  between  the  three 
parties;  Pattison  receiving  2,257,  Beaver  2,270,  and 
Stewart  2,211. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


541 


The  result  in  the  State  gave  Pattison  355,791, 
Beaver  315,589  and  Stewart  43,743,  electing  Pattison 
by  40,202  plurality.  The  other  candidates  on  the  State 
ticket  fell  with  their  chief.  Black  was  elected  lieu- 
tenant governor  by  a  plurality  of  36,028;  Clark,  for 
supreme  judge,  by  40,762;  Africa,  for  secretary  of 
internal  affairs,  by  36,944,  and  Elliott,  for  Congress- 
man-at-Large,  by  40,995. 

With  a  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  conditions  which 
then  prevailed,  and  carefully  scanning  the  reforms  of 
that  election,  it  is  fairly  doubtful  whether  Pattison  was 
not  elected  by  the  direct  support  of  Republicans,  as 
nearly  one-half  of  the  Independents  of  the  State  voted 
the  Democratic  ticket  to  emphasize  their  implacable 
hostility  to  the  Republican  nominations  of  the  State. 

The  Independents  closed  the  battle  of  1882  as  abso- 
lute masters  of  the  political  situation  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  they  confidently  expected  that,  with  the  co-opera- 
tion they  had  reason  to  believe  they  would  command 
from  Governor  Pattison,  they  could  enforce  a  complete 
reorganization  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  State, 
and  the  measurable  subordination  of  its  most  offensive 
leaders.  Why  they  failed  will  be  told  in  another  chapter. 


542 


Old  Time  Notes 


C. 

GOVERNOR  PATTISON'S  FIRST  TERM. 

An  Administration  of  Both  Successes  and  Failures  —  Appoints  Lewis 
C.  Cassidy  Attorney  General  —  Pattison  Assailed  on  Account  of 
Cassidy  —  Attacks  that  Forced  Cassidy  to  Accept  —  A  Legislature 
Divided  Against  Itself  —  Futile  Efforts  at  Reapportionment  of  the 
State  —  Except  as  to  the  Judiciary  —  An  Extra  Session  of  the  Legis- 
lature —  The  Governor  Became  Unpopular  on  Account  of  This  Session 
—  How  He  Lost  His  Mastery  of  the  State  — The  Election  of  1884  — 
Pennsylvania  Heavily  Republican,  though  Cleveland  Elected  President. 

GOVERNOR  PATTISON  was  called  to  the  chief 
Magistracy  of  the  Commonwealth  under  political 
conditions  which  would  have  enabled  any 
sagacious  man  in  politics  to  hold  the  divided  Republi- 
can party  in  open  conflict  and  overthrow  its  m.astery; 
but,  while  Pattison  was  justly  estimated  for  his  stern 
integrity  in  public  and  private  life,  and  had  exhibited 
great  ability  and  unswerving  fidelity  in  the  important 
office  of  controller  of  the  city,  he  was  without  political 
experience  when  he  entered  the  broad  field  of  Penn- 
sylvania politics.  He  was  unequal  to  the  duty  of 
shaping  the  policy  of  his  own  administration. 

His  first  serious  error  was  the  appointment  of  Lewis 
C.  Cassidy  to  the  attorney  generalship.  If  the  public 
had  known  at  the  time  Cassidy  was  appointed,  that  he 
would  administer  the  responsible  duties  of  his  office,  not 
only  with  great  ability,  but  with  absolute  fidelity,  the 
wide  revolt  against  the  appointment  would  have  been 
measurably  or  wholly  halted,  but  Cassidy  was  the 
Colonel  Mann  of  Democratic  politics,  and  both  were 
ready  at  times  to  sacrifice  party  interests  to  their  own 


of  Pennsylvania 


543 


mutual  interests.  Both  were  members  of  the  Pilgrim 
Club,  an  organization  made  up  of  the  leaders  of  both 
parties  to  divide  offices  and  public  profits  between 
themselves,  and  from  the  day  of  Pattison's  nomi- 
nation for  Governor  he  was  assailed  not  only  by  the 
Republicans  generally  throughout  the  State,  but  by 
William  M.  Singerty,  in  his  widely  read  '  'Daily  Record, " 
as  "Cassidy's  boy"  who  would  be  the  nominal  Gov- 
ernor, while  Cassidy  would  be  the  administration. 

The  Republicans  were  warranted  in  thus  assailing 
Pattison,  because  Mr.  Singerly's  ''Record,"  the  only 
Democratic  organ  of  Philadelphia,  violently  opposed 
him  from  day  to  day,  and  declared  that  Cassidy  would 
necessarily  be  his  attorney-general,  and  Samuel 
Josephs  his  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth.  These 
assaults  upon  Pattison  were  keenly  felt  in  the  contest 
by  those  who  managed  his  campaign,  as  Pattison  was 
little  personally  known  outside  of  Philadelphia. 

A  month  or  more  before  the  election,  Cassidy  called 
at  my  office,  and  expressed  his  apprehension  that 
Pattison  might  be  defeated  by  the  charges  made,  not 
only  by  the  Republican  press  generally,  but  by  Mr. 
Singerly's  widely  read  newspaper,  that  he  (Cassidy) 
would  be  one  of  the  Pattison  cabinet,  and  prominent 
in  directing  the  administration.  He  insisted  that  I 
should  announce,  editorially,  on  the  authority  of 
Cassidy  himself,  that  under  no  circumstances  would 
Cassidy  be  called  to  any  public  office  under  Pattison, 
if  Pattison  became  Governor  of  the  State.  In  obedi- 
ence to  that  direction  from  Cassidy  himself,  I  announced 
editorially  in  'The  Times'"  on  the  following  day  that 
Cassidy  had  distinctly  authorized  a  public  annouce- 
ment  that  if  Pattison  was  elected  Governor,  Cassid}^ 
would  not  be  called  to  any  official  position  under  his 
administration.  That  announcement  was  given  to  the 
Associated  Press,  to  appear  simultaneously  in  all  the 


544 


Old  Time  Notes 


daily  journals  of  the  State  the  following  morning.  It 
silenced  the  objections  which  had  been  urged  with 
greatest  effect  against  Pattison's  election.  It  was 
accepted  by  all  as  the  absolute  truth,  as  it  was  given 
to  the  public  not  only  on  Mr.  Cassidy's  own  authority, 
but  by  his  own  voluntary  direction. 

What  v/as  regarded  as  the  gravest  obstacle  to  Patti- 
son's election  was  removed  by  Cassidy  eliminating 
himself  entirely  from  the  new  administration,  but  a 
few  weeks  after  the  election  Cassidy  called  at  my  office, 
and  appealed  to  me  to  release  him  from  the  promise 
that  had  been  given  to  the  public  through  me,  not  to 
accept  any  position  under  the  Pattison  administration. 
He  informed  me  that  Pattison  desired  him  to  be  attor- 
ney-general, and  that  he  especially  desired  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  offered  him  to  prove  how  clean  and  credit- 
able a  record  he  could  make  as  attorney -general  of  the 
Commonwealth.  I  did  not  doubt  his  sincerity  and 
personally  regretted  that  I  had  no  right  and  no  authori- 
ty to  release  him  from  the  obligation  he  had  made  to 
the  public  through  me.  If  it  had  been  a  mere  personal 
pledge  to  myself,  I  could  have  done  so,  but  it  was  a 
pledge  that  I  had  given  to  the  public  on  his  authority, 
and  with  it  had  given  the  positive  assurance  that  the 
promise  was  made  in  good  faith,  and  would  be  sacredly 
fulfilled. 

Cassidy  was  my  own  personal  counsel  at  the  time, 
but  his  acceptance  of  a  cabinet  appointment  after  the 
solemn  pledge  given  to  the  public  with  my  own  positive 
editorial  endorsement  would  involve  "The  Times" 
and  its  editor  in  grotesque  insincerity,  and  I  informed 
him  that  that  pledge  was  made  under  such  circum- 
stances that  neither  he  nor  I,  nor  any  other,  could 
release  him  from  its  fulfilment.  Some  time  before  this 
interview  with  Casisdy,  Pattison  had  called  at  my 
office,  and  discussed  the  question  of  his  cabinet  in  a 


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545 


general  way,  giving  a  number  of  names  that  seemed 
to  be  considered.  He  named  Cassidy  among  others, 
and  I  summarily  dismissed  his  name,  and  reminded  the 
Governor  that  Cassidy 's  public  pledge,  that  was  given 
the  widest  publicity  throughotit  the  State,  precluded 
his  selection,  to  which  Pattison  made  no  reply. 

I  never  had  another  conference  with  either  Pattison 
or  Cassidy  about  his  cabinet  or  on  any  political  sub- 
ject, before  the  inauguration,  and  when  the  nev/  Gov- 
ernor sent  Cassidy 's  name  to  the  Senate  for  attorney 
general,  "The  Times"  denotmced  the  appointment  as 
an  act  of  bad  faith,  on  the  part  of  Cassidy,  to  the  people 
of  the  State,  that  the  Governor  should  not  have  per- 
mitted, and  demanded  that  his  solemnly  plighted  faith 
given  to  the  public  by  Cassidy  should  be  sacredly  main- 
tained. This  criticism  was  resented  by  both  the  Gov- 
ernor and  his  attorney  general,  and  the  result  was  polit- 
ical estrangement  between  the  State  administration  and 
''The  Times"  during  Pattison 's  term. 

It  is  due  to  Attorney  General  Cassidy  to  say  that  he 
manfully  maintained  his  purpose,  expressed  to  me  at 
the  time  he  desired  his  appointment  to  be  sanctioned, 
by  administering  the  office  not  only  with  all  the  mas- 
terly legal  ability  he  possessed,  but  with  absolute 
integrity  and  fidelity.  Not  one  of  the  many  eminent 
men  who  have  filled  the  office  of  attorney-general  in 
Pennsylvania  made  a  cleaner  or  better  record  as  law 
officer  of  the  Commonwealth  than  did  Lewis  C.  Cassidy. 

The  appointment  of  Cassidy  was  the  entering  wedge 
that  soon  thereafter  separated  the  Independent  Repub- 
licans from  the  Pattison  administration.  The  Inde- 
pendents expected  from  Pattison  not  only  an  honest 
administration  of  the  government,  but  they  expected 
the  Executive  to  rise  above  the  mere  partisan  influence 
in  the  administration  of  his  office.  The  senate  was 
largely  Republican,  and  the  House  largely  Democratic, 


2—35 


546 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  of  that  year,  as 
commanded  by  the  Constitution,  to  pass  congressional, 
judicial  and  legislative  apportionments.  The  appor- 
tionments then  existing  had  been  made  by  the  Repub- 
licans, and  were  shaped  greatly  to  the  advantage  of 
that  party.  They  had  much  to  lose  by  new  apportion- 
ments framed  on  an  equitable  basis,  and  much  to  gain 
by.  alio  wing  the  old  apportionments  to  stand. 

The  Democratic  house  insisted  upon  a  number  of 
congressional,  legislative  and  judicial  districts  corres- 
ponding to  their  proportion  of  the  vote  of  the  State,  a 
proposition  that  was  impossible  of  execution  because 
the  party  did  not  have  a  majority  in  the  counties  of  the 
State  which  would  have  been  necessary  to  carry  out 
their  purpose  without  violent  gerrymander.  The  Re- 
publicans of  the  State,  after  much  wrangling  between 
the  two  houses,  finally  yielded  to  the  Independents  of 
the  body  who  desired  to  act  with  entire  fairness,  and 
presented  a  congressional  bill  that  was  reasonably  fair 
to  the  Democrats,  and  much  better  than  the  then 
existing  formation  of  districts,  but  it  was  sternly  re- 
jected by  the  Democrats,  and  addresses  were  issued  to 
the  public  by  the  Republicans  of  the  senate  and  the 
Democrats  of  the  house,  appealing  their  respective 
causes  to  the  people  of  the  State. 

Finding  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  two  houses  to 
agree  upon  an  apportionment,  the  resolution  for  final 
adjournment  on  the  6th  of  June  was  passed  by  both 
branches,  but  on  the  morning  of  that  day  Governor 
Pattison  addressed  them  a  message,  summoning  them 
to  meet  in  extraordinary  session,  beginning  on  the  7th 
of  June,  for  the  purpose  of  passing  congressional,  legis- 
lative and  judicial  apportionments.  Both  branches 
met  in  extra  session  on  the  7th  of  June,  and,  after  intro- 
ducing a  number  of  apportionment  bills,  adjourned 
until  the  19th.    Partisan  prejudices  were  inflamed  by 


Of  Pennsylvania 


547 


this  protracted  and  bitter  controversy,  and  there 
seemed  to  be  no  prospect  of  reaching  an  agreement. 
On  the  nth  of  July,  the  Republicans  of  the  senate 
presented  their  ultimatum,  known  as  the  McCracken 
congressional  bill  and  the  Longenecker  legislative 
apportionment,  with  a  resolution  for  final  adjournment 
on  the  24th  of  the  month. 

An  arrangement  was  finally  reached  on  the  judicial 
apportionment  on  the  30th  of  July  that  was  signed  by 
the  Governor,  but  the  continued  struggle  on  the  other 
apportionments  seemed  to  widen  disputing  parties 
rather  than  to  bring  them  together.  The  wrangle 
continued  until  the  loth  of  September,  when  the  two 
houses  adopted  a  resolution  directing  the  appropriation 
committee  to  report  an  appropriation  bill  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  the  extra  session,  but  the  Governor  re- 
turned it  with  a  veto.  On  the  14th  of  September  the 
senate  decided  to  meet  only  on  Tuesday  and  Friday. 
The  house  met  daily  and  denounced  the  senate  as 
revolutionary  in  its  actions  for  refusing  to  sit  continu- 
ously until  the  resolution  called  for  was  completed. 
Finally,  on  the  30th  of  November,  the  Democrats, 
satisfied  that  congressional  and  legislative  apportion- 
ments could  not  be  passed,  agreed  to  final  adjourn- 
ment on  the  nth  of  December.  On  that  day  the  Legis- 
lature of  1883  adjourned  sine  die,  making  a  special 
session  of  189  days  after  a  regular  session  lasting  from 
the  first  of  January  to  the  6th  of  June. 

In  the  apportionment  dispute  the  Governor  became 
alienated  from  all  his  Independent  Republican  stipport, 
and  at  the  election  of  1883  the  Republicans  carried 
their  State  ticket  by  nearly  20,000  majority.  The 
Republican  State  convention  had  met  in  Harrisburg 
on  the  nth  of  July,  and  nominated  J.  B.  Niles,  of 
Tioga,  for  attorney  general,  and  William  Livsey  for 
State  treasurer.    The  Democrats  held  their  convention 


548 


Old  Time  Notes 


at  Harrisburg  on  the  first  of  August,  and  nominated 
Robert  Taggart,  of  Warren,  for  attorney-general,  and 
Joseph  Powell,  of  Bradford,  for  State  treasurer.  Only 
the  friction  between  the  Independents  and  the  Pat- 
tison  administration  to  force  apportionments  satisfac- 
tory to  the  Democrats  made  it  possible  for  the  Re- 
publicans to  elect  their  State  ticket.  The  majority 
for  auditor  general  was  only  17,075. 

The  State  administration  of  Governor  Pattison  thus 
lost  its  mastery  over  State  and  legislation  by  a  struggle 
for  partisan  advantages  that  was  not  only  unwise  in 
conception,  but  blundering  in  execution.  The  Legis- 
lature at  that  time  had  no  fixed  salary  for  extra  sessions, 
and  the  pay  was  $10  per  day  for  each  member  with  teh 
usual  salary  to  officers,  making  the  Legislature  of  1883 
the  most  costly  in  the  history  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Pattison  had,  with  Cassidy  as  attorney  general, 
William  S.  Stenger,  of  Franklin,  as  secretary  of  the 
Commonwealth,  a  lawyer  of  great  ability,  with  large 
experience  in  politics,  as  he  was  thrice  elected  to  Con- 
gress in  a  district  naturally  Republican.  How  any 
administration  with  two  so  capable  men  as  Cassidy 
and  Stenger,  both  ripe  in  political  experience,  could 
have  persisted  in  the  blunder  of  a  regular  and  an  extra 
session  of  the  Legislature  lasting  nearly  a  year,  is 
difficult  to  understand. 

In  all  matters  outside  of  mere  partisan  interests  the 
Pattison  administration  was  clean,  aggressively  honest 
and  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
masses  of  the  people.  The  Granger  element  was  then 
a  vital  one  in  the  State,  and  Pattison  was  in  sincerest 
sympathy  with  its  general  aims  and  methods.  He 
thus  retired  from  office  at  the  expiration  of  his  term, 
leaving  an  administration  that  was  a  failure  viewed 
from  a  mere  political  standpoint,  but  that  was  regarded 
by  the  people  generally  as  worthy  of  confidence  because 


Of  Pennsylvania 


549 


of  its  fidelity  to  the  interests  of  the  people  against  the 
encroachments  of  corporations,  and  it  was  that  feeling 
that  recalled  Pattison  to  the  Governorship  four  years 
later  in  defiance  of  the  ablest  political  leaders  of  the 
State. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-four  was  a  Presidential 
year,  and  both  parties  entered  the  fight  with  complete 
organizations,  and  the  hearty  support  of  their  follow- 
ers. The  Republican  convention  met  at  Harrisburg 
on  the  loth  of  April.  The  only  State  candidate  to  be 
nominated  was  that  of  Congressman- at- Large,  and 
General  E.  S.  Osbourne,  of  Luzerne,  was  nominated  on 
the  third  ballot.  The  Democratic  convention  met  at 
Allentown  on  the  i8th  of  April,  and  nominated  Gen- 
eral William  W.  H.  Davis,  of  Bucks,  Congressman-at- 
Large,  without  the  formality  of  a  ballot.  Prohibition 
and  Greenback  conventions  were  held,  the  first  nomi- 
nating A.  N.  Attwood  for  Congressman,  and  the  latter 
nominating  James  Black. 

For  the  first  time  the  enemies  of  Blaine,  who  had 
defeated  him  in  1876  and  1880  by  diverting  Pennsyl- 
vania from  him,  gave  up  the  contest  in  this  State,  and 
the  State  convention  declared  in  favor  of  the  nomina- 
tion of  Blaine  and  Robert  T.  Lincoln  for  Vice-President. 
The  Republican  National  convention  met  at  Chicago 
on  the  3d  of  June,  and  John  R.  Lynch,  colored  delegate 
from  Mississippi,  was  nominated  for  temporary  chair- 
man by  Theodore  Roosevelt,  now  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  elected  over  Powell  Clayton,  of 
Arkansas,  by  a  vote  of  431  to  387.  This  was  the  first 
time  that  a  colored  man  had  ever  presided  over  a 
National  convention  of  either  of  the  great  parties. 

The  contest  for  President  was  between  Blaine  and 
President  Arthur,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  Arthur 
would  have  been  nominated  but  for  the  fact  that  Blaine 
had  been  twice  defeated  in  conventions  in  which  his 


550  Old  Time  Notes 


friends  felt  that  he  would  have  been  nominated  if  fair 
play  had  been  the  rule,  and  they  could  postpone  his 
nomination  no  longer.  Arthur  was  very  popular  with 
the  people  generally,  as  he  had  made  a  most  dignified 
and  generally  acceptable  administration.  On  the  first 
ballot  he  received  278  votes  to  364  for  Blaine.  On  the 
fourth  ballot  Blaine  had  540  to  201  for  Arthur,  with  a 
number  scattering  when  the  nomination  of  Blaine 
was  made  unanimous,  and  John  A.  Logan  was  nomi- 
nated for  Vice-President  without  the  formality  of  a 
ballot. 

The  Democratic  National  convention  met  at  Chicago 
on  the  8th  day  of  July,  and  I  have,  in  a  former  chapter, 
told  how  the  friends  of  Randall  controlled  the  State 
convention  and  placed  Wallace  at  the  head  of  the 
delegation  with  instructions  to  support  Randall  for 
President,  and  I  have  also  given  in  detail  the  circum- 
stances which  led  to  the  withdrawal  of  Randall  in 
favor  of  Cleveland,  thereby  assuring  Cleveland's  suc- 
cess. Cleveland's  nomination  was  effected  on  the 
second  ballot,  receiving  683  votes  to  81^  for  Bayard, 
45^  for  Hendricks  and  10  scattering. 

The  National  contest  was  a  very  earnest  one,  but 
Blaine  m.ade  the  mistake  of  assuming  the  management 
of  his  own  campaign.  Defamation  of  both  candidates 
became  rife  long  before  the  contest  ended,  but  while  it 
figured  largely  in  the  political  speeches  and  party 
organs  of  the  country,  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  changed 
a  thousand  votes  out  of  the  many  millions  cast.  The 
principal  scandal  against  Cleveland  was  sent  to  Blaine, 
and  he  committed  the  error  of  forwarding  it  to  his 
National  committee,  and  the  chief  scandal  against 
Blaine  was  sent  to  Cleveland,  but  he  forwarded  it  to 
his  National  committee  with  positive  instructions  not 
to  give  it  publicity. 

When  Cleveland  was  most  bitterly  and  malignantly 


Of  Pennsylvania 


551 


assailed,  the  Indianapolis  "Sentinel,"  the  leading 
Democratic  organ  of  the  West,  astounded  the  country 
by  bringing  out  the  Blaine  scandal  with  picturesque 
embellishments.  When  Cleveland  was  advised  of  the 
publication  of  the  personal  scandal  printed  against 
himself  his  answer  was:  ''Tell  the  truth."  Blaine, 
always  impulsive  and  often  unbalanced  in  judgment, 
as  any  man  would  be  who  assumed  the  management 
of  his  own  campaign  for  the  Presidency,  brought  suit 
against  the  Indiana  journal  that  had  given  publicity 
to  the  scandal.  He  evidently  did  not  appreciate  the 
lesson  that  Clay  had  learned  when  he  declared,  after 
his  final  defeat  for  the  Presidency,  that  if  there  had 
been  another  Henry  Clay  to  direct  his  battle  he  would 
have  been  elected. 

That  Blaine  erred  in  bringing  his  suit  was  later  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  after  the  election  he  withdrew 
it,  and  never  pressed  its  trial.  I  well  remember  the 
morning  the  announcement  was  made  of  Blaine's  suit 
against  the  "Sentinel."  I  was  then  resting  in  the 
mountains,  and  after  breakfast  was  sitting  in  front  of 
the  hotel  with  President  Arthur,  Secretary  Freling- 
huysen,  Judge  Strong,  William  Henry  Rawle  and  one 
or  two  others,  when  the  New  York  papers  were  brought 
to  us,  and  all  of  them  were  profoundly  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  Blaine  had  committed  a  serious  blunder. 
The  paper  that  had  made  the  publication  was  one  of 
the  greatest  violent  partisan  journals  of  the  country, 
and  conducted  with  great  ability.  Its  answer  to  Blaine 
was  a  challenge  for  a  speedy  trial  and  the  emphatic 
reiteration  of  the  details  of  the  scandal.  This  action 
of  Blaine  greatly  magnified  the  importance  of  the 
scandal,  and  made  it  a  serious  political  factor,  while 
from  the  day  that  Cleveland  made  the  simple  answer, 
"Tell  the  truth,"  and  thus  challenged  his  accusers,  the 


552 


Old  Time  Notes 


defamation  gradually  faded  out  and  ceased  to  be  seri- 
ously employed  or  felt  in  the  struggle. 

There  was  practically  no  contest  in  Pennsylvania, 
as  it  was  not  possible  to  wrest  the  State  from  Blaine, 
and  the  resources  of  the  party  were  largely  directed 
to  aid  the  contest  in  New  York.  Blaine  carried  the 
State  by  81,019,  leading  his  ticket  some  6,000,  as  the 
majority  for  Congressman-at- Large  was  only  75,227. 
The  National  contest  was  decided  in  New  York,  where 
Cleveland  carried  the  State  by  1,100  majority,  and 
more  than  enough  to  have  changed  the  result  in  favor 
of  Blaine  was  lost  by  Blaine  accepting  a  public  dinner 
from  Jay  Gould  and  others,  and  meeting  the  ministers 
of  New  York,  where  the  Burchard  incident  occurred. 
He  had  made  his  fight  and  practically  won  his  battle, 
but  on  his  way  home  he  unfortunately  tarried  in  New 
York  city,  and  the  two  incidents  referred  to  cost  him 
vastly  more  than  enough  to  have  reversed  the  vote 
of  the  State  and  thereby  made  him  President. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


553 


CI. 

THE  GREAT  STEEL  INDUSTRY. 

Steel  Was  Used  Almost  Wholly  for  Edge  Tools  a  Generation  Ago — Struc- 
tural Steel  Practically  Unknown  and  Steel  Unthought  of  for  Rail- 
ways— Disston  Developed  American  Steel  for  His  Saw  Works;  for 
Many  Years  Had  to  Stamp  Them  as  English — America  Now  Pro- 
duces the  Finest  Steel  in  the  World — Colonel  Wright's  View  of  the 
Helplessness  of  the  South — Believed  War  Impossible  in  1861  Because 
the  South  Could  Not  Tire  a  Locomotive — Advent  of  Andrew  Car- 
negie— Started  at  Five  Dollars  a  Week  Under  Colonel  Scott — Became 
the  Great  Genius  of  the  Steel  Trade — Raised  Up  Half  a  Score  or  More 
of  Multi-Millionaires — He  Is  Now  Among  the  Half-score  of  Richest 
Private  Citizens  in  the  V/ orld — His  Gifts  of  Millions  to  Libraries  and 
Education — His  Thorough  Self-reliance — He  Alone  Directed  the 
Movements  Against  the  Great  Homestead  Strike  of  1884 — The  Monu- 
ments Reared  by  Scott  and  Carnegie. 

THE  development  of  the  steel  trade  during  the 
last  twenty  years  is  entirely  tinexampled  among 
the  industrial  enterprises  of  the  world.  I  well 
remember,  in  the  early  seventies,  when  common  iron 
rails  for  our  railroads  commanded  from  ninety  to  one 
hundred  dollars  a  ton,  and  President  J.  Edgar  Thompson, 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  made  the  first  experi- 
ment in  the  use  of  steel  rails,  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  dollars  per  ton,  to  be  used  on  the  mul- 
tiplied tracks  about  the  Philadelphia  station  of  the  com- 
pany, because  the  constant  use  of  the  tracks  wore  out 
the  iron  rails  in  a  very  fevv^  years.  Steel  was  then  un- 
thought of  for  railroads  and  structural  steel  was  prac- 
tically unknown,  but  to-day  nearly  or  quite  all  of  the 
imposing  buildings  erected  have  a  complete  steel  struc- 
ture. Steel  was  practically  unthought  of,  excepting 
for  edge  tools,  until  the  discovery  of  the  Bessemer  pro- 


554 


Old  Time  Notes 


cess  half  a  century  since,  but  great  improvements 
have  been  made  in  the  manufacture  of  steel,  and  it  is 
now  in  universal  use  for  railroads,  which  are  gener- 
ally laid  with  steel  rails  ranging  from  eighty  to  one 
himdred  poimds  to  the  yard. 

When  Mr.  Disston,  who  founded  the  Disston  Saw 
Works,  of  Philadelphia,  began  his  work  on  a  very  small 
scale,  he  informed  me  that  his  tools  would  not  have 
been  accepted  by  the  public  if  they  had  not  been  made 
entirely  of  English  steel,  as  it  was  then  believed  that 
America  could  not  produce  steel  sufficiently  refined 
for  edge  tools.  He  was  a  well-trained,  practical  me- 
chanic in  his  line,  and  he  finally  produced  an  American 
steel  that  was  thereafter  used  entirely  in  his  works,  but 
for  many  years  his  product  would  have  been  unsalable 
if  not  stamped  as  English  steel.  To-day,  America  pro- 
duces the  finest  steel  in  the  world,  and  not  only  supplies 
the  entire  American  market,  with  rare  exceptions,  but 
exports  a  considerable  proportion  of  its  product  to 
Germany  and  other  foreign  countries. 

When  the  Civil  War  began  in  1861,  there  was  not  a 
pound  of  steel  produced  south  of  the  Potomac  and  Ohio 
rivers.  I  remember  dining  with  Colonel  John  A. 
Wright  at  his  home  at  The  J.  Edgar  Thompson  Steel 
Works,  near  Lewistown,  soon  after  the  Presidential 
election  of  i860.  The  secession  of  the  Cotton  States 
had  already  begun,  and  all  were  appalled  at  the  pros- 
pect of  fratricidal  war.  Colonel  Wright  was  then  re- 
garded as  the  most  experienced  steel  manufacturer  in 
the  State  or  country,  and  I  was  amazed  when  he  told 
me  to  dismiss  all  apprehension  of  a  war  with  the  South, 
as  the  South  could  not  then  furnish  tires  for  a  single  lo- 
comotive, and  it  would  be  impossible  for  it  to  maintain 
a  war  for  a  year  when  cut  off  from  the  many  things  for 
which  it  was  solely  dependent  upon  the  North.  He 
was  right  as  to  the  producing  power  of  the  South,  at 


Of  Pennsylvania 


555 


that  time,  but  even  without  steel  the  Confederacy  man- 
aged to  maintain  a  bloody  war  for  four  long  years,  and 
to-day  Birmingham,  Alabama,  produces  cheaper  iron 
and  steel  than  can  be  furnished  in  any  other  industrial 
center  of  the  world,  and  exports  many  thousands  of 
tons  annually. 

The  man  who  had  the  genius,  energy  and  courage  to 
develop  the  steel  trade  in  this  country  to  the  highest 
possible  point  of  perfection  was  Andrew  Carnegie.  I 
knew  him  well  when  he  was  quite  a  young  man  and  the 
clerk  of  Thomas  A.  Scott.  He  was  exceptionally 
bright,  genial  and  tireless  in  industry,  and  at  first  thought 
he  was  getting  along  well  in  the  world  on  a  salary  of 
five  dollars  per  week.  He  had  the  best  of  training  un- 
der President  J.  Edgar  Thompson  and  Vice-President 
Colonel  Scott,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  and  was 
greatly  aided  by  them  in  making  his  start  as  a  manufac- 
turer. He  finally  located  near  Pittsburg,  and  there  for 
many  years  mastered  every  feature  of  the  steel  business, 
promptly  utilized  and  controlled,  if  possible,  every  im- 
provement invented,  until  he  finally  became  known  as 
the  ''Steel  King"  of  the  new  world.  There  grew  up 
around  him  a  number  of  men  who  began  the  work  in 
early  life,  most  of  whom  were  trained  to  the  thorough 
mastery  of  their  great  business  enterprise,  the  details 
and  profits  of  which  were  practically  unknown  to  the 
outside  world.  There  are  to-day,  novv^  in  more  or  less 
active  business  in  the  great  industrial  enterprises  of 
the  country,  half  a  score  or  more  of  multi-millionaires, 
solely  because  of  their  early  association  and  training 
with  Carnegie.  Charles  Schwab,  whom  I  recall  in  his 
very  early  manhood  as  a  driver  of  a  two-horse  stage  up 
in  the  Alleghenies,  was  fortunate  in  becoming  one  of 
Carnegie's  boys,  and  when  the  United  States  Steel 
Company  was  organized,  vv^ith  a  capital  of  a  billion  dol- 
lars, Schwab  became  its  president  with  a  salary  of  one 


556 


Old  Time  Notes 


hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year.    Later,  he  retired 

from  that  position  and  is  now  engaged  in  steel  enter- 
prises involving  many  millions. 

Andrevv^  Carnegie  is  to-day  in  the  fore-rank  of  the  few 
preeminently  prominent  Americans,  both  in  his  native 
country  of  Scotland  and  his  adopted  country  in  the  new 
world;  certainly  ranks  among  the  half-score  of  richest 
private  citizens  in  any  country,  and  it  is  doubtless 
whether  any,  excepting  Rockefeller,  surpasses  him  in  in- 
dividual fortune.  His  love  for  the  people  among  whom 
he  was  born  made  him  return  to  Scotland,  where  he  has 
acquired  one  of  the  most  magnificent  estates  in  the 
Province,  and  where  he  dispenses  his  charity  with  a 
lavish  hand.  He  spends  most  of  his  winters  in  his  pa- 
latial residence  in  New  York,  constructed  by  himself 
some  years  ago,  and  devotes  his  spare  time  to  the  syste- 
matic advancement  of  education  in  the  United  States. 
He  is  eminently  practical;  his  money  was  acquired  by 
the  most  careful  and  thoroughly  practical  methods,  and 
his  chief  interest  in  gratifying  his  benevolent  tastes  is 
in  teaching  all  that  they  must  help  themselves.  His 
expenditure  in  this  country  in  the  establishing  of 
libraries  and  the  cause  of  education  generally  has 
already  amounted  to  many  millions.  Hundreds  of 
libraries  have  been  established  throughout  the  country 
by  his  generous  contributions,  all  of  which  teach  the 
highest  appreciation  of  self- advancement  by  requiring 
libraries  to  be  generously  supported  by  those  to  whom 
they  were  given.  Of  all  our  multi-millionaires,  Car- 
negie is  the  most  generous  giver,  and  he  studiously  aims 
to  obtain  the  best  practical  results  to  the  beneficiaries 
of  his  gifts. 

Mr.  Carnegie  possesses,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the 
inherent  Scotch  quality  of  self-reliance.  One  of  the 
severest  trials  through  which  he  passed  was  in  1884, 
when  the  Homestead  strike  convulsed  the  nation,  and 


of  Pennsylvania 


5S7 


certainly  contributed  to,  or  controlled,  the  election  of 
the  first  Democratic  President  who  ruled  after  the  W  ar. 
He  was  generously  just  to  those  in  his  employ,  but 
sternly  just  when  his  vast  industries  were  halted  by 
what  he  regarded  as  most  unhealthy  control  of  the 
united  labor  of  the  State.  He  remained  in  Scotland 
during  the  entire  strike,  which  lasted  many  months, 
but  absolutely  commanded  the  situation  on  this  side  by 
refusing  the  concessions  demanded.  The  result  was 
great  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  Carnegie,  but  when  his  bat- 
tle was  won  he  was  safe  from  a  repetition  of  such  inter- 
ruptions in  his  business,  and  from  that  time  until  his 
entire  great  enterprise  was  absorbed  by  the  United 
States  Steel  Company,  he  rapidly  accumulated  wealth. 
While  his  business  was  conducted  in  the  most  method- 
ical and  economical  manner  consistent  with  his  general 
business  methods,  he  was  always  the  first  in  the  steel 
trade  to  foresee  advantages  and  grasp  them,  regardless 
of  necessary  cost.  The  result  was  that  when  the  pro- 
position came  to  combine  the  great  steel  establish- 
ments of  the  country,  Carnegie  was  the  most  important 
factor,  as  he  was  the  great  teacher  of  the  trade,  and 
when  he  finally  retired  he  was  one  of  the  richest  private 
citizens  of  the  world.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Colonel 
Scott,  the  great  railroad  genius  of  the  country,  and 
Mr.  Carnegie,  the  great  steel  genius  of  our  land,  both 
started  in  their  careers  friendless  and  fortuneless,  and 
they  have  left  the  greatest  monuments  of  industrial 
and  commercial  progress  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of 
the  State. 


558 


Old  Time  Notes 


CII. 

QUAY  ELECTED  SENATOR. 

Quay's  Senatorial  Battle  Begun  in  1885  — His  Early  Political  Relations 
and  How  He  Stood  Toward  Senator  J.  D.  Cameron  —  Quay's  Candi- 
dacy for  State  Treasurer  —  His  Turning  Down  of  McDevitt  of  Lan- 
caster—  His  Cleverly  Managed  Campaign  and  Election  —  The  State 
Battle  of  1886  — General  Beaver,  Who  Had  Been  Defeated  in  1882, 
Easily  Chosen  Governor  —  Quay  Before  the  Legislature  of  1887  — 
Triumphantly  Chosen  as  U.  S.  Senator  —  Soon  Becomes  a  Great 
National  Leader  —  His  Relations  to  Blaine  —  State  Offices  Filled  in 
1888  —  How  a  Democrat  Reached  the  Supreme  Bench  —  The  National 
Campaign  of  1888. 

QUAY'S  battle  for  the  United  States  Senatorship 
began  in  1885.  purpose  was  not  openly 

declared,  but  all  in  close  relations  with  him  well 
understood  that  his  struggle  for  the  position  of  State 
treasurer  in  1885  was  simply  a  preliminary  skirmish 
to  gain  a  commanding  position  whereby  he  could  win 
out  in  the  Senatorial  contest  of  1886-87,  when  he  fought 
his  Senatorial  battle  in  the  open. 

Quay  had  long  looked  to  the  United  States  Senate 
with  earnest  expectations.  Very  few  of  his  friends  knew 
how  nearly  he  became  involved  in  a  direct  struggle 
with  Cameron  in  1867,  when  Curtin  and  his  friends  dis- 
covered that  Cameron  had  Curtin  defeated  in  the  Re- 
publican caucus.  Quay  was  then  a  member  of  the 
house,  admittedly  the  Republican  leader  of  the  body, 
and  was  the  Curtin  candidate  for  speaker,  but  was 
defeated  by  a  combination  of  the  field  Senatorial  candi- 
dates organized  by  Cameron.  The  contest  for  Senator 
had  reached  large  commercial  proportions  which  Curtin 
was  unwilling  or  unable  to  meet,  and  at  that  stage 
Quay  communicated  to  me  in  strict  confidence  that  he 


Of  Pennsylvania 


559 


was  seriously  considering  the  question  of  taking  Curtin's 
place  in  the  Senatorial  battle,  and  playing  the  commer- 
cial game  to  the  limit  against  Cameron. 

Quay  was  without  fortune  himself,  but  he  had  one 
friend,  who  then  possessed  a  large  fortune,  and  could 
have  made  a  commercial  combination  in  support  of 
Quay  that  would  have  stood  abreast  with  the  Cameron 
organization.  George  K.  Anderson  v/as  a  Juniata 
County  boy,  with  whose  people  I  was  well  acquainted 
while  residing  there,  and  when  General  Irwin,  of 
Quay's  county,  and  largely  by  Quay's  influence,  was 
appointed  commissary  general  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  I  induced  Quay  to  join  me  in  pressing  the  appoint- 
ment of  Anderson  as  a  clerk  under  General  Irwin,  and 
it  was  accomplished.  Anderson  knew  that  he  had 
obtained  his  position  largely  through  the  influence  of 
Quay,  and  never  ceased  to  appreciate  it. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  oil  development  in  Venango 
County,  an  oil  company  was  formed  chiefly  by  men 
in  Harrisburg,  and  Anderson  was  selected  to  manage 
it.  He  was  thus  in  the  oil  region  at  the  beginning  of 
the  oil  fever,  and  soon  commenced  operating  for  him- 
self. He  was  most  fortunate  in  his  ventures,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  Senatorial  contest  of  1867  his  net  income 
was  estimated  at  $2,500  a  day,  and  he  was  able  to  com- 
mand probably  a  million  of  money.  He  proposed  to 
back  Quay,  if  they  could  see  any  chance  of  winning  out 
against  Cameron.  Quay  held  it  under  advisement  for 
several  days,  but  finally  decided  that  the  double  risk 
of  failure  and  exposure  was  too  great  to  assume,  and 
he  never  made  himself  known  as  a  candidate,  but 
finally  arranged  with  the  younger  Cameron  to  move 
the  unanimous  nomination  of  Cameron  after  he 
had  received  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  caucus. 
That  was  the  beginning  of  Quay's  relations  with  the 
Camerons. 


560 


Old  Time  Notes 


Anderson  became  ambitious  for  political  advance- 
ment himself,  and  I  simply  repeat  his  own  statement 
to  me  when  I  say  that  he  spent  $70,000  in  a  contest 
with  the  elder  Delamater  for  the  Republican  nomina- 
tion for  State  senator  in  Crawford  County.  Dela- 
mater was  also  a  man  of  fortune,  and  doubtless  was 
comxpelled  to  expend  a  large  amount  of  money.  He 
defeated  Anderson  in  his  first  attempt  to  reach  the 
Senate,  but  Anderson  was  nominated  to  succeed  Del- 
am.ater,  and  served  a  senatorial  term.  Finally,  as  his 
revenues  from  oil  gradually  diminished,  his  generous 
nature  made  it  difficult  for  him  to  diminish  his  lavish 
gifts  and  expenditures,  and  the  restilt  was  that  he 
became  hopelessly  bankrupt,  and  the  last  time  I  saw 
him  he  borrowed  a  small  amount  of  money  to  pay  his 
expenses  to  Washington  to  accept  an  appointment  in 
Arizona,  or  New  Mexico,  where  he  died  soon  after  enter- 
ing upon  his  official  duties. 

The  Legislature  to  be  elected  in  1886  was  to  choose  a 
United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Senator  Mitchell,  of 
Tioga,  and  Quay  decided  that  he  would  make  his  battle 
for  the  Senatorship  at  that  time.  He  did  not  at  first 
intend  to  be  a  candidate  for  State  treasurer,  and  James 
McDevitt,  of  Lancaster,  was  practically  slated  for  the 
office  by  Quay  and  his  friends  very  early  in  the  year, 
but  Quay  saw  that  he  had  little  hope  of  winning  the 
Senatorship  in  the  Legislature  of  1887  tmless  he  could 
place  himself  in  the  position  of  supreme  command  of 
the  party.  He  did  not  want  the  office  of  State  treas- 
urer, as  it  would  have  been  practically  under  his  con- 
trol if  McDevitt  had  been  chosen,  but  he  was  Napoleonic 
in  his  methods  and  decided  that  if  he  could  obtain  a 
nomination  and  election  as  State  treasurer  in  the  face 
of  the  independent  sentiment  that  had  erupted  and 
overwhelmed  Cameron  and  himself  three  years  before, 


of  Pennsylvania 


he  would  be  absolute  master  of  the  party  organization, 
and  thus  command  the  Senatorship. 

Mackey  was  dead;  the  younger  Cameron  had  just 
been  re-elected  to  the  Senate  by.  the  Legislature  of 
1885,  nominal  leader  of  the  party  in  the 

State  with  Quay  as  lieutenant.  Quay  knew  the  danger 
of  provoking  a  sudden  and  desperate  revolt  among  the 
Independents  by  proposing  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
the  only  office  to  be  filled  in  1885,  but  he  perfected  his 
plans  with  the  sagacity  that  he  always  exhibited  in 
his  many  political  struggles. 

My  first  knowledge  of  his  candidacy  for  State  treas- 
urer came  from  himself  before  his  name  had  been  pub- 
licly mentioned  in  any  quarter.  He  called  at  "The 
Times"  office  and  frankly  told  me  that  he  had  decided 
to  be  a  candidate  for  State  treasurer  himself.  I  was 
greatly  surprised  at  his  announcement,  as  I  appre- 
hended that  he  would  at  once  rekindle  the  Independent 
revolt,  and  that  his  name  on  the  ticket  would  inflame 
it  to  huge  proportions,  but  he  well  understood  the  peril 
that  confronted  him,  and  before  he  permitted  his  name 
to  be  announced  as  a  candidate  for  State  treasurer  he 
personally  visited  a  large  number  of  the  leading  Inde- 
pendents, and  after  full  conference  with  them,  in  nearly 
every  instance  he  either  obtained  their  assent  to  his 
candidacy  or  so  mollified  them  as  to  prevent  anything 
like  a  spontaneous  eruption  against  him. 

The  result  was  that  when  his  name  was  publicly 
announced  as  a  candidate  for  State  treasurer  most  of 
those  interested  in  politics  were  am^azed  to  learn  that 
no  general  protest  came  up  from  the  Independents, 
and  that  only  in  exceptional  instances  were  feeble  pro- 
tests called  out  against  him.  It  was  indeed  surprising 
that  an  Independent  movement,  embracing  a  large 
number  of  the  most  intelligent  and  influential  Republi- 
cans of  the  State,  that  had  made  open  battle  against 


2 — 36 


562 


Old  Time  Notes 


Quay's  mastery  only  three  years  before,  as  a  rule  either 
actively  or  passively  assented  to  his  candidacy  for 
State  treasurer,  when  his  would  be  the  only  name  on 
the  State  ticket. 

The  only  trouble  he  had  in  his  contest  for  nomination 
was  from  McDevitt,  his  own  friend  whom  he  had  origi- 
nally slated  for  the  position  and  who  took  the  bit  in  his 
mouth,  and  resolutely  refused  to  decline  in  favor  of  his 
chief,  but  even  with  McDevitt  in  the  field  Quay  was 
nominated  on  the  first  ballot  in  the  convention  that  met 
at  Harrisburg  on  July  8th,  by  a  vote  of  196^  to  27  for 
J.  H.  Longenecker  and  1 5  for  McDevitt,  with  1 2  votes 
scattering. 

The  Democratic  convention  met  at  Harrisburg  on 
the  26th  of  August  and  nominated  Conrad  B.  Day,  of 
Philadelphia,  as  Quay's  competitor.  The  Greenback 
party  nominated  N.  C.  Whitney  and  the  Prohibition- 
ists nominated  Barr  Spangler.  Quay  looked  well  to 
the  organization  of  his  party,  and  in  an  off  year,  as  it 
was,  a  party  that  has  organization  and  discipline  can 
be  most  effectively  handled.  He  understood  the  whole 
State  and  left  no  means  unemployed  to  secure  a  sub- 
stantial victory  for  himself.  The  result  was  his  elec- 
tion by  a  majority  of  43,516. 

He  had  thus  won  his  high  position  as  political  master 
of  the  party  by  a  very  large  majority  from  the  people, 
and  with  the  State  treasury  as  his  base  for  political 
operations  during  the  following  year  it  was  not  difficult 
for  him  to  shape  the  new  Legislature  by  timely  atten- 
tion to  nominations  and  generous  support  to  his  friends 
in  doubtful  districts  and  have  it  substantially  at  his 
own  command. 

The  triumphant  election  of  Quay  for  State  treasurer 
blazed  the  way  very  distinctly  for  the  renomination  and 
election  of  General  Beaver  in  1886.  He  had  been 
defeated  by  the  Independents  four  years  before,  not 


of  Pennsylvania 


563 


because  of  personal  objection  to  his  qualifications  or 
character,  but  solely  because  he  was  the  candidate  of 
Cameron  and  Quay,  and  as  the  people  had  just  given 
Quay  a  large  majority  for  a  most  responsible  office  in 
a  square  contest,  the  nomination  and  election  of 
Beaver  were  practically  assured.  The  Republican 
State  convention  nominated  Beaver  by  acclamation, 
and  Senator  William  G.  Davies,  of  Bradford,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  Independent  senators  in  1881  and  was 
defeated  with  Beaver  in  1882,  was  also  renominated  for 
lieutenant  governor  without  a  contest.  Senator  A. 
Wilson  Norris  was  nominated  for  auditor  general,  and 
General  Thomas  J.  Stewart  for  secretary  of  internal 
affairs. 

The  Democrats  had  a  bitter  struggle  in  their  con- 
vention over  the  nomination  for  Governor.  In  a 
former  chapter  I  have  related  the  circumstances  of 
Senator  Wallace  announcing  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
the  Democratic  nomination  for  governor,  and  that 
Randall  had  in  personal  conference  assented  to  it,  but 
their  factional  f oUow^ers  were  always  averse  to  anything 
like  unity  between  them,  and  they  forced  the  issue  of 
separating  Randall  and  Wallace  in  the  struggle,  and 
Randall,  being  then  dominant  in  the  party,  defeated 
Wallace's  nomination  and  made  Chauncey  F.  Black 
the  Democratic  candidate.  With  him  were  nominated 
Colonel  R.  Bruce  Ricketts  for  lieutenant  governor, 
William  J.  Brennan  for  auditor  general  and  J.  Simpson 
Africa  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs. 

As  the  Independents  had  acquiesced  in  the  election 
of  Quay  there  was  no  visible  ground  for  revolt  against 
the  nominations  of  Beaver  and  Davies,  and  excepting 
in  a  few  individual  cases  the  old  Independents  fell  in 
under  the  party  flag.  Beaver  entered  the  campaign 
and  fought  it  out  heroically  from  start  to  finish,  visiting 
every  section  of  the  State  and  speaking  sometimes  at 


5^4 


Old  Time  Notes 


several  meetings  in  a  day.  Black  was  then  just  in 
the  prime  of  intellectual  and  physical  vigor,  and 
stumped  the  State  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  Delaware,  but 
it  was  a  hopeless  battle  from  the  start.  The  Repub- 
lican party  was  practically  united  and  gave  a  very  cor- 
dial support  to  Beaver,  while  the  Democrats  were 
somewhat  disintegrated  by  the  Granger  element  that 
forced  Black  into  the  support  of  a  State  policy  that 
chilled  a  considerable  Democratic  element  in  business 
and  financial  circles. 

The  Prohibitionists  nominated  Charles  S.  Wolfe,  who 
was  the  free  lance  candidate  for  State  treasurer  several 
years  before,  and  a  natural  and  able  kicker,  but  even 
with  the  regular  Prohibition  nomination  he  polled  little 
more  than  half  the  vote  he  had  received  when  an  Inde- 
pendent Republican  candidate  for  State  treasurer. 
The  entire  Republican  ticket  was  elected  by  substan- 
tially the  same  vote,  with  over  40,000  plurality, 
and  the  Republican  Legislature  was  carried  with  34 
Republicans  in  the  senate  to  16  Democrats,  and  135 
Republicans  in  the  house  to  67  Democrats  and  one 
Greenback  and  Labor. 

Governor  Beaver  was  inaugurated  with  imposing 
ceremonies,  as  the  Republicans  emphasized  their 
appreciation  of  restoration  to  authority  in  the  State, 
after  four  years  of  Democratic  rule.  He  called  a 
strong  cabinet  about  him,  consisting  of  Charles  W. 
Stone,  of  Warren,  as  secretary  of  the  commonwealth, 
W.  S.  Kirkpatrick,  of  Northampton,  for  attorney 
general,  and  Daniel  S.  Hastings,  as  adjutant  general. 

It  was  not  disputed  by  any  that  Quay  had  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  the  Republicans  of  the  Legis- 
lature pledged  to  his  election  for  United  States  Senator, 
but  he  was  ambitious  to  have  his  nomination  as  nearly 
unanimous  as  possible,  and  he  very  adroitly  introduced 
a  district  system  of  Legislative  conferences  in  different 


Of  Pennsylvania 


565 


sections  of  the  State,  to  which  the  RepubHcan  senators 
and  representatives  of  the  district  were  invited,  and 
in  each  of  these  conferences  it  was  proposed  and  earn- 
estly urged  that  they  should  cast  a  united  vote  in  favor 
of  the  candidate  preferred  by  the  majority. 

In  each  of  the  districts  thus  mapped  out  Quay  had 
a  clear  majority ;  in  nearly  every  instance  the  plan  was 
successful,  and  the  result  was  that  Quay  was  nominated 
in  the  Republican  caucus  on  the  4th  of  January,  1887, 
by  a  vote  of  154  to  9  for  Galusha  A.  Grow.  In  the 
Democratic  caucus  Senator  Simon  P.  Wolverton  was 
nominated  as  the  Democratic  candidate,  receiving  46 
votes  to  14  for  Wallace,  4  for  Robert  E.  Wright  and  3 
for  James  F.  Comley.  The  vote  in  the  senate  for 
United  States  Senator  was  33  for  Quay,  14  for  Wolver- 
ton and  3  not  voting.  In  the  house,  Quay  received 
133  to  66  for  Wolverton,  2  not  voting. 

Quay  thus  carried  to  triumphant  completion  the 
policy  he  inaugurated  in  1885,  when  he  announced 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  State  treasurer,  and  when, 
as  he  told  me  when  conferring  on  the  subject  at  the 
time  he  informed  me  of  his  purpose  to  be  a  candidate, 
he  felt  that  he  must  either  take  the  risk  of  a  defeat  for 
State  treasurer,  or  lose  the  control  of  the  organization 
of  the  State.  He  said  he  was  fully  convinced  that  he 
must  make  a  battle  for  the  State  treasurer,  or  surrender 
the  party  sceptre,  and  he  added  that  he  preferred  to 
fall  fighting  to  being  relegated  to  a  secondary  position 
in  party  control.  From  the  time  of  Quay's  election  to 
the  Senate  in  1887  until  his  death,  he  wielded  absolute 
mastery  in  the  Republican  party  of  the  State. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  eighty- seven  was  an  off  year 
in  politics,  and  with  the  triumphant  election  of  Quay 
as  State  treasurer  in  1885,  of  Beaver,  as  Governor,  in 
1886,  and  Qua}^  as  United  States  Senator  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  1887,  Quay's  domination  of  the  party  in  the 


566 


Old  Time  Notes 


State  was  conceded  by  all.  There  were  a  few  Independ- 
ents who  criticised  Quay's  methods  and  autocratic 
mastery,  but  there  was  no  popular  demand  in  the 
party  ranks  for  revolt,  and  Quay  entered  upon  his  new 
career  as  a  National  Legislator  with  the  most  serene 
political  conditions  as  his  environment. 

The  country  was  enjoying  an  unusual  degree  of  pros- 
perity. The  National  treasury  was  overflowing  with 
surplus  revenues,  as  the  Cleveland  administration  had 
severely  halted  improvident  appropriations,  and  the 
Democrats,  with  a  united  Republican  party  confronting 
them,  accepted  the  situation  in  Pennsylvania  as  utterly 
hopeless  for  them.  Chief  Justice  Mercur  had  died 
early  in  the  year,  and  Henry  Williams,  of  Tioga,  was 
appointed  to  succeed  him.  The  Republican  State  con- 
vention unanimously  nominated  Judge  Williams  for 
election,  and  William  B.  Hart  for  State  treasurer,  and 
the  Democrats  nominated  J.  Ross  Thompson,  of  Erie, 
for  the  supreme  court,  and  Bernard  McGrann,  of  Lan- 
caster, for  State  treasurer.  There  were  no  Congress- 
men or  Legislators  to  elect  to  inspire  interest  in  local 
contests,  and  the  political  battle  of  1887  was  a  per- 
functory one,  as  the  Democrats  understood  from  the 
beginning  that  they  had  no  prospect  of  winning.  The 
result  was  the  election  of  the  Republican  State  ticket 
by  over  40,000  majority. 

The  year  1888  developed  Senator  Quay  as  a  great 
National  leader.  He  had  served  only  a  single  session  in 
the  Senate,  but  he  was  speedily  recognized  as  a  very 
important  political  factor,  and  he  at  once  assumed  a 
potential  attitude  in  the  direction  of  National  party 
affairs.  Blaine  had  been  defeated  in  1884,  and  he  was 
undecided  as  to  his  candidacy  for  1888.  Blaine  was 
a  fatalist,  and  was  profoundly  impressed,  after  his 
defeat  for  the  nomination  in  1876,  that  he  was  fated 
never  to  reach  the   Presidency.      I   remember  his 


Of  Pennsylvania 


567 


saying  soon  after  his  defeat  at  Cincinnati  that  he 
had  the  largest  measure  of  popular  following  and 
yet  believed  that,  like  Clay,  he  could  never  reach 
the  Presidency. 

Quay  was  not  an  ardent  supporter  of  Blaine  for  the 
nomination  in  1884.  His  fellow  Senator,  Cameron, 
had  just  married  into  the  Sherman  family,  and  Quay 
and  Cameron  decided  to  take  the  initiative  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  they  had  absolute  control,  and  select  an 
instructed  delegation  for  Senator  Sherman  for  President. 
Had  Blaine  been  a  positive  candidate,  the  selection  of 
a  Sherman  delegation  in  this  State  would  have  involved 
a  contest,  but  while  Blaine  would  doubtless  have  very 
willingly  accepted  the  nomination  if  he  had  reasonable 
prospect  of  election,  he  hesitated  to  allow  himself  to  be 
considered  as  an  aspirant,  and  Quay  and  Cameron  had 
an  easy  triumph  in  carrying  the  delegation  for  Sherman. 
Quay  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  delegation,  and 
selected  Adjutant  General  Hastings  to  present  Sher- 
man's name  to  the  convention  in  behalf  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Quay  and  Cameron  were  both  very  earnestly 
enlisted  in  the  Sherman  cause,  but  General  Alger  had 
made  serious  inroads  upon  Sherman's  support  in  the 
South,  and  the  National  convention  at  Chicago,  after 
several  days  of  balloting,  finally  gave  the  nomination 
to  General  Harrison,  of  Indiana. 

Two  State  offices  were  to  be  filled  in  1888 — supreme 
judge  and  auditor  general,  and  the  Republicans  nomi- 
nated Thomas  McCamant  for  auditor  general  and 
James  T.  Mitchell,  the  present  chief  justice,  for  the 
supreme  court.  The  Democrats  nominated  Henry 
Meyer  for  auditor  general  and  J.  Brewster  McCollom 
for  the  supreme  court.  As  the  contest  was  regarded 
by  the  Democrats  as  hopeless,  they  had  much  difficulty 
in  selecting  a  candidate  for  supreme  judge.  It  was 
offered  to  Judge  Arnold,  Samuel  Gustine  Thompson, 


568 


Old  Time  Notes 


who  later  filled  the  position  by  appointment,  and  a 
number  of  other  prominent  members  of  the  bar,  but 
all  declined,  and  when  the  convention  met  there  were 
several  aggressive  candidates  for  the  nomination 
who  lacked  the  character  and  attainments  neces- 
sary to  make  an  acceptable  ticket  for  so  dignified  a 
position. 

Finally  Judge  McCollom's  name  was  presented  with- 
out his  knowledge,  and  the  assurance  given  by  close 
friends  that  he  would  accept,  and  he  was  placed  on 
the  ticket.  Soon  after  the  nomination  had  been  made, 
Judge  Trunkey  of  the  supreme  court  died  in  London, 
making  two  vacancies  to  be  filled,  and  under  the  Consti- 
tution the  people  could  vote  for  but  one  candidate,  thus 
assuring  the  election  of  both  the  Republican  and  the 
Democratic  candidates. 

.  While  the  contest  of  1888  was  very  earnestly  fought 
in  the  debatable  States  the  Democrats  of  Pennsylvania, 
knowing  that  they  could  not  give  the  State  to  Cleve- 
land, confined  their  efforts  largely  to  the  Congressional 
and  Legislative  districts.  The  Republican  majority 
for  electors  and  State  officers  was  about  80,000,  but 
McCollom,  Democrat,  was  elected  supreme  judge  along 
with  Mitchell,  being  chosen  as  the  minority  candidate, 
as  provided  by  the  supreme  law  of  the  State. 

The  Republicans  realized  when  the  National  cam- 
paign of  1888  opened  that  they  had  a  desperate  strug- 
gle before  them,  and  that  under  all  ordinary  condi- 
tions the  most  successful  and  efficient  party  manage- 
ment would  be  likely  to  win.  It  was  this  condition 
that  called  Senator  Quay  to  the  chairmanship  of  the 
National  committee,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  New 
York  was  given  to  Harrison,  in  the  face  of  a  large  Dem- 
ocratic majority  for  the  State  ticket,  solely  by  Quay's 
strategy  and  his  combinations  with  Tammany.  New 


Of  Pennsylvania 


569 


York  decided  the  election  against  Cleveland  and  in 
favor  of  Harrison.  Quay  was  undoubtedly  the  chief- 
tain of  the  struggle,  and  he  was  at  once  recognized 
throughout  the  entire  country  as  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished leaders  of  the  party.  He  was  thus  recog- 
nized until  the  day  of  his  death,  and  the  story  of  his 
career  from  that  time  until  his  life  work  was  ended  will 
furnish  another  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  annals 
of  the  Commonwealth. 


570 


Old  Time  Notes 


cm. 

QUAY  AND  WANAMAKER. 

Aftermath  of  the  1888  Election  —  How  Wanamaker  Became  a  Great 
PoHtical  Factor — Personal  Choice  of  President  Harrison  for  Post- 
master General  —  Appointment  Distasteful  to  Cameron  and  Quay — • 
His  Masterly  Administration  —  Pie  Acquires  Powerful  Influence  in 
State  Politics  —  The  Contest  for  Governor  in  1890  —  Delamater  Made 
the  Republican  Nominee  —  Pattison  Renominated  by  the  Democrats 

—  Ex-Senator  Wallace  and  W.  U.  Hensel  —  Hensel's  Important 
Position  —  Pattison  Re-elected  —  Harrity  and  Hensel  in  Pattison's 
Cabinet  —  J.  D.  Cameron  Re-elected  to  His  Last  Term  in  the  Senate 

—  The  Bardsley  Defalcation  —  How  Quay  Counteracted  Its  Effect. 

QUAY'S  management  of  the  National  campaign  of 
1888,  in  which  he  v/renched  victory  from  the 
very  jaws  of  defeat  by  his  skilful  political  move 
ments  in  New  York  city,  the  citadel  of  Democratic 
power,  made  him  suddenly  and  universally  recognized 
by  his  party  as  its  most  accomplished  political  leader. 
It  is  entirely  safe  to  assume  that  but  for  Quay's  sagacity 
and  heroic  methods  in  managing  the  contest  in  New 
York,  Cleveland  would  have  been  re-elected  President, 
as  Cleveland  was  the  only  man  on  the  Democratic 
ticket  who  did  not  receive  a  majority  in  the  Empire 
State.  Harrison  carried  New  York  over  Cleveland  by 
14,373  plurality,  and  at  the  same  election  Hill  was  re- 
elected Governor  by  19,171,  Jones,  Democratic  candi- 
date for  Lieutenant  Governor,  had  22,234  plurality, 
and  Gray,  Democratic  candidate  for  court  of  appeals, 
had  3,425  plurality. 

It  was  the  most  expensive  National  campaign  ever 
conducted  in  the  country.  The  business  men,  especi- 
ally the  manufacturers,  contributed  more  generously 


of  Pennsylvania 


571 


than  ever  before  or  since  to  defeat  Cleveland  and  over- 
throw the  Mills  tariff  that  was  framed  on  the  basis  of 
revenue  with  only  incidental  protection.  Philadelphia 
manufactirrers  contributed  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars,  and  John  Wanamaker  and  Thomas  Dolan  were 
in  the  forefront  in  giving  and  obtaining  the  unusually 
large  contributions  which  were  poured  into  the  treasury 
of  the  National  committee,  and  that  was  handled  ex- 
clusively by  Quay  himself. 

Quay  was  never  accused  of  economical  methods  in 
either  public,  political  or  private  affairs.  He  knew 
that  only  by  having  an  immense  campaign  fund  at  his 
command  could  he  make  a  successful  deal  with  certain 
Tammany  leaders  who  were  quite  willing  to  crucify 
Cleveland,  and  to  either  restrain  Democratic  frauds  or 
neutralize  them  by  imitating  Democratic  methods. 
He  was  the  sole  manager  of  the  political  movements  in 
New  York  which  controlled  the  National  contest,  and 
to  him  was  universally  accorded  the  credit  of  having 
won  the  battle  that  made  Harrison  President. 

Just  when  Quay  seemed  to  have  reached  the  very 
zenith  of  fame  and  power  as  a  political  leader,  he 
brought  to  the  front  by  his  own  achievement  the  one 
man  who,  in  all  Quay's  struggles  in  Pennsylvania,  was 
able  to  lock  horns  with  him,  greatly  endanger  his  power 
from  year  to  year,  and  finally  defeated  him  for  re-elec- 
tion to  the  Senate.  That  man  was  John  Wanamaker. 
He  was  untrained  in  the  political  methods  of  the  time, 
but  he  was  an  ardent  Republican,  had  fairly  won  his 
position  as  a  prince  of  merchants,  was  in  hearty  sym- 
pathy with  a  large  religious  element  of  the  State,  and 
Yv^as  a  master  in  all  movements  which  commanded  his 
efforts.  He  was  singularly  keen  in  perception,  fearless 
in  action,  able  and  adroit  as  a  disputant,  and  no  man 
in  the  State  more  thoroughly  understood  the  great 
business  and  industrial  interests  of  the  entire  country. 


572 


Old  Time  Notes 


He  very  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  Harrison,  as 
between  them  there  was  the  most  cordial  religious  as 
well  as  political  sympathy,  and  they  were  certainly  in 
sincere  accord  in  the  desire  to  elevate  the  political  sys- 
tem of  the  government  and  purify  our  political  methods. 

The  first  cloud  that  came  upon  the  then  brilliant 
political  horizon  of  Senator  Quay  was  the  announcement 
by  President  Harrison  of  John  Wanamaker  as  Post- 
master General.  It  did  not  meet  the  approval  of  either 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Senators,  as  neither  Cameron  nor 
Quay  was  in  sympathy  with  Wanamaker 's  ideal 
political  theories.  It  was  President  Harrison's  own 
appointment,  and  when  the  Senators  were  consulted 
on  the  subject,  they  assented  to  it  chiefly  because  they 
saw  that  they  could  not  offer  substantial  objections  to 
Wanamaker 's  promotion,  while  it  soon  became  evident 
that  Harrison  intended  to  make  the  appointment  and 
that  objections  would  be  unavailable. 

I  had  Senators  Cameron  and  Quay  with  me  at  dinner 
alone  a  few  days  after  the  inauguration  of  Harrison,  as 
I  desired  to  learn  the  actual  political  conditions,  and 
found  them  both  at  that  early  day  thoroughly  dis- 
gruntled at  Harrison.  Quay  told  of  his  first  visit  to 
the  President,  when  he  expected  to  receive  the  most 
fervent  and  grateful  congratulations  on  his  achieve- 
ment, but  he  was  greatly  disappointed  and  almost  dum- 
founded  at  Harrison's  statement  that  Providence  had 
been  on  their  side  and  gave  them  the  victory.  Quay, 
the  son  of  an  old-school  Presbyterian  preacher,  had  as 
severe  a  religious  training  as  Harrison  himself,  but  he 
had  learned  the  lesson  that  when  elections  were  to  be 
won,  as  a  rule,  religious  services  and  religious  methods 
were  not  among  the  most  effective.  Quay  spoke  of  the 
President's  expression  of  gratitude  to  Providence  for 
his  success  in  wresting  New  York  from  the  Democracy 
as  the  utterance  of  a  political  tenderfoot.    To  use 


Of  Pennsylvania 


573 


Quay 's  own  expression :  Providence  hadn  't  a  damned 
thing  to  do  with  it, "  to  which  he  added  that  he  supposed 
Harrison  would  never  learn  how  close  a  number  of 
men  were  compelled  to  approach  the  gates  of  the  peni- 
tentiary to  make  him  President,  where  he  could  return 
thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  his  promotion. 

Wanamaker  entered  the  cabinet  as  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral, and  it  is  admitted  by  all  that  his  record  in  the 
management  of  the  Post  Office  Department  has  rarely 
been  equaled  and  never  surpassed  in  any  of  the  impor- 
tant qualities  of  statesmanship.  His  administration 
of  his  department  was  clean  from  beginning  to  end,  and 
he  was  progressive  even  beyond  the  point  to  which  he 
could  bring  his  party.  He  conceived  and  drove  the 
entering  wedge  that  doubled  and  has  finally  quad- 
rupled the  service  of  the  postal  department  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  entire  country,  and  I  doubt  whether  the 
President  had  in  any  of  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  a 
man  of  clearer  judgment  on  any  of  the  many  intricate 
questions  which  are  presented  to  the  Government  for 
solution. 

While  he  was  thoroughly  in  accord  with  the  President 
in  his  convictions  as  to  an  ideal  civil  service  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  elections,  he  understood  much  better  than 
did  the  President  that  our  political  system  could  not  be 
revolutionized  in  a  day,  and  that  men  in  power  must 
deal  with  existing  conditions  on  broad  and  liberal  lines. 
Beyond  selecting  a  postmaster  for  his  own  city  of 
Philadelphia,  who  was  not  acceptable  to  the  political 
leaders,  he  accorded  to  the  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives of  the  party  in  the  State  their  full  measure  of  con- 
trol of  the  patronage  of  his  department  and  of  the 
Government.  He  carefully  avoided  forcing  any  issue 
with  the  Senators  and  Representatives,  and  while  all 
knew  that  his  own  individual  ideas  of  administering  the 
Government  were  at  variance  with  the  dominant  math- 


574 


Old  Time  Notes 


ods,  they  had  no  reason  to  complain  that  he  had  need- 
lessly obstructed  their  plans. 

While  Harrison  was  not  heartily  supported  by  the 
party  because  be  obtruded  his  ideas  and  political  con- 
victions offensively  at  times,  Wanamaker  commanded 
the  respect  of  the  leaders  generally,  and  did  much  to 
prevent  growing  estrangement  between  party  leaders 
and  the  administration.  Harrison  was  severely  con- 
scientious, and  a  stranger  to  the  art  of  popularizing 
himself.  He  was  universally  respected,  but  the  best 
commentary  that  could  be  made  upon  his  position  as  a 
political  leader  is  given  in  the  fact  that  while  he  had 
served  six  years  in  the  Senate  with  men  who  were  in 
active  politics  when  he  was  nominated  for  President, 
there  was  not  one  of  his  associate  Senators  who  came 
to  the  front  to  struggle  for  his  nomination.  No  man 
ever  entered  the  Presidential  office  with  higher  ideas 
of  unfaltering  devotion  to  public  duty,  but  Wana- 
maker, with  equally  high  ideals  in  politics,  possessed 
consummate  tact  and  never  undertook  to  amend  or 
overthrow  the  political  organization  because  it  did  not 
accord  with  his  views  in  its  political  methods. 

Wanamaker  greatly  strengthened  himself  with  the 
party  in  his  State  and  commanded  the  respect  of  the 
entire  coimtry  for  his  administration  of  the  Post  Office 
Department,  and  retired  without  ever  having  com- 
mitted a  breach  between  himself  and  the  Republican 
Senators  and  Representatives  of  the  State.  Thus, 
Quay's  exceptionally  brilliant  achievement  in  forcing 
a  Republican  Presidential  majority  in  a  State  that 
elected  all  of  the  other  Democratic  candidates,  brought 
to  the  front  Wanamaker  as  a  Cabinet  officer,  whereby 
Wanamaker  was  trained  for  the  desperate  struggles 
he  made  later  in  the  State  to' overthrow  Quay's  mastery. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  eighty-nine  was  an  off  year, 
with  no  State  officer  to  elect  but  a  State  treasurer. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


575 


The  Republicans  nominated  Mr.  Boyer,  who  was  later 
speaker  of  the  house  and  superintendent  of  the  mint, 
and  the  Democrats  nominated  Mr.  Bigler,  of  Clearfield, 
son  of  the  ex-Govemor.  The  Democrats  were  generally 
discouraged  and  had  little  incentive  to  make  a  vigorous 
contest,  and  they  were  defeated  by  over  60,000  in  the 
State.  There  was  not  a  ripple  on  the  surface  indicat- 
ing opposition  to  Quay's  domination  of  the  party  in 
Pennsylvania,  but  in  1890  a  Governor  and  other  State 
officers  were  to  be  elected,  and  Quay  committed  the 
error,  so  often  exhibited  by  political  leaders,  of  attempt- 
ing to  force  the  nomination  of  a  candidate  for  Gover- 
nor against  the  undoubted  sentiment  of  the  party. 

The  contest  for  Governor  in  1890  was  between  Sena- 
tor Delamater,  of  Crawford,  and  Adjutant  General 
Hastings,  of  Centre.  Delamater  had  been  prominent 
as  a  Republican  senator,  v/as  generally  regarded  as  a 
rich  banker  and  understood  to  be  a  favorite  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  that  was  then  at  war  with  a 
large  element  of  oil  producers  in  the  State.  In  all  of 
Quay's  political  career  he  never  allowed  himself  to  get 
out  of  touch  with  the  Standard  Oil  corporation,  and  in 
some  severe  emergencies  it  proved  to  be  a  very  im- 
portant factor  in  his  achievements.  Delamater  was 
not  wanting  in  ability,  nor  was  he  vulnerable  in  char- 
acter, but  he  was  not  the  choice  of  the  Republican  peo- 
ple, and  his  nomination  had  to  be  forced  by  the  power 
of  the  organization. 

Hastings  had  made  himself  very  generally  and  popu- 
larly known  to  the  people  of  the  State  by  his  heroic 
efforts  at  Johnstown  after  the  terrible  disaster  that 
almost  effaced  the  town  and  sacrificed  thousands  of 
lives.  He  was  sent  there  by  Governor  Beaver  to  see 
what  could  be  done  to  begin  the  work  of  restoring  trans- 
portation and  rehabilitating  the  desolated  city.  Hast- 
ings found  that  the  work  required  heroic  direction, 


576 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  he  assumed  the  responsibihty  of  leading  the  great 
work  of  gathering  the  dead  for  sepulture  and  gradually 
restoring  a  number  of  the  homes.  He  labored  night 
and  day,  giving  up  every  comfort  and  greatly  endan- 
gering his  health,  and  thus  made  himself  very  gratefully 
known  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  the  State. 

He  entered  the  contest  for  Governor  without  any  aid 
from  the  Quay  organization,  but  long  before  the  con- 
vention met  it  was  clearly  evident  that  Hastings  could 
be  defeated  for  the  nomination  only  by  the  most  abso- 
lute and  despotic  command  of  the  Quay  leadership.  I 
saw  Quay  alone  two  weeks  before  the  convention  met, 
and  found  him  greatly  exercised  about  the  nomination 
for  Governor.  He  then  realized  that  the  nomination 
of  Delamater  would  alienate  a  large  portion  of  the 
Republican  people  from  his  fellov/ship,  but  he  did  not 
believe  it  possible  for  the  Democrats  to  defeat  any  can- 
didate the  Republicans  might  nominate.  I  told  him 
that  I  thought  the  wise  thing  for  him  to  do  was  to 
adjust  himself  to  the  manifest  wishes  of  his  party,  to 
which  he  replied  that  he  very  much  desired  once  to 
have  a  Governor  of  his  own. 

He  forced  the  nomination  of  Delamater  by  the  sheer 
power  of  the  party  organization,  and  Hastings,  who 
was  young  enough  and  shrewd  enough  to  understand 
that  the  future  belonged  to  him,  came  promptly  to  the 
front  and  led  the  fight  for  Delamater 's  election.  He 
thus  made  himself  solid  with  the  Republican  people 
of  the  State,  and  from  that  time  until  the  convention 
met  four  years  later,  it  never  was  possible  for  the  party 
leaders  to  get  even  an  organized  movement  against 
Hastings  as  a  candidate. 

The  nomination  of  Delamater  led  to  open  revolt, 
and  the  Democrats  saw  their  opportunity.  They  were 
not  then  led  by  mere  political  traders  who  care  only 
for  personal  honors  or  advantage,  but  by  those  who 


of  Pennsylvania 


577 


thoroughly  understood  the  poHtical  conditions  and 
knew  how  to  adjust  the  party  to  give  it  the  promise  of 
victory.  Governor  Pattison  had  left  the  Executive 
office  at  the  end  of  his  first  term  with  a  strong  Demo- 
cratic element  opposed  to  him,  but  there  was  universal 
confidence  among  all  the  people  in  his  public  and  pri- 
vate integrity,  and  the  Granger  element  was  a  powerful 
factor  in  politics  at  that  time. 

The  man  who  managed  the  Pattison  nomination  and 
election  was  William  F.  Harrity,  of  Philadelphia. 
Harrity  had  been  chairman  of  the  city  committee  in 
Philadelphia,  where  he  held  the  Democrats  in  complete 
organization,  and  achieved  repeated  victories  by 
association  with  the  reform  Republicans.  When  the 
contest  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Governor 
was  in  doubt  between  Senator  Wallace  and  Governor 
Pattison,  Harrity  decided  the  issue  by  accepting  Patti- 
son as  the  candidate  because  he  believed  that  Pattison 
was  the  most  available.  He  was  not  at  variance  with 
Wallace,  but  the  reform  Republican  element  that  was 
in  revolt  against  Delamater  was  not  in  sympathy  with 
Vv^allace,  while  it  was  in  very  hearty  sympathy  with 
Pattison,  and  looking  to  the  legitimate  party  interests 
he  accepted  Pattison  because  he  believed  Pattison 
could  be  elected. 

Harrity,  Hensel  and  Black  were  measurably  es- 
tranged from  Pattison  during  his  first  administration. 
Hensel  and  Black  were  ranked  as  friends  of  Randall  as 
against  Wallace,  and  when  Harrity  decided  to  support 
Pattison  they  refused  to  go  along  with  him.  Hensel 
and  Black  had  their  respective  delegations  in  Lancaster 
and  York  instructed  for  them  for  Governor,  and  when 
the  convention  met  at  Scranton  they  joined  Wallace  in 
opposition  to  Pattison.  When  it  became  apparent 
that  Wallace  could  not  be  nominated,  Wallace,  Hensel 
and  Black  decided  to  make  a  combination  to  nominate 


2—37 


578 


Old  Time  Notes 


Silas  M.  Clark,  of  Indiana,  then  a  judge  of  the  supreme 
court.  The  three  joined  in  a  telegram  to  Clark  at 
Indiana  simply  asking  him  to  not  answer  any  de- 
spatches received  from  Scranton  during  the  sessions 
of  the  convention,  and  a  despatch  in  which  three  great 
leaders  of  the  party  joined  was  respected  by  Clark. 
Wallace  assumed  that  he  could  deliver  his  followers  to 
Clark.  It  was  arranged  that  he  .  would  go  into  the  con- 
vention, withdraw  his  name  and  nominate  Clark,  and 
that  Hensel  and  Black  should  follow,  declining  and 
declaring  for  Clark. 

After  fixing  their  programme  they  separated  late  in 
the  night,  and  an  hour  or  two  later  Wallace  retiu^ned 
to  Hensel's  room,  roused  him  up,  and  informed  him 
that  he  could  not  deliver  his  followers  to  Clark,  and 
that  his  withdrawal  would  make  enough  of  a  break  to 
Pattison  to  give  him  [success.  After  a  few  minutes  of 
awkward  silence  Hensel  said:  "  Well,  Wallace,  what  are 
you  going  to  do?"  To  which  he  answered,  ''I  am 
going  to  let  my  name  go  before  the  convention  and  take 
my  licking.  What  are  you  going  to  do?"  Hensel 
answered,  "  I  propose  to  pack  my  satchel  in  the  morn- 
ing and  return  home."  Pattison  was  nominated,  re- 
ceiving 200  votes,  with  132  for  Wallace,  12  for  Robert 
E.  Wright,  12  for  Hensel  and  11  for  Black.  Although 
specially  invited,  Wallace  and  Hensel  refused  to  appear 
before  the  convention  after  the  nominations  were 
made.  As  a  tub  to  the  opposition  whale  Black  was 
again  nominated  for  Lieutenant  Governor. 

Hensel's  position  in  the  party  was  one  of  unusal  im- 
portance. He  was  not  a  place-hunter,  but  was  con- 
spicuous for  his  devotion  to  honestly  organized  Democ- 
racy. He  had  tried  to  nominate  Clark  for  Governor  in 
1882  when  Pattison  was  first  nominated  and  elected, 
and  he  was  then  tendered  the  nomination  for  Congress- 
man-at-Large  that  meant  an  election,  but  he  took  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


579 


floor  in  the  convention  and  declined  in  favor  of  Morti- 
mer F.  Elliott,  who  was  nominated  and  elected.  He 
was  made  chairman  of  the  State  committee  by  the 
country  candidates  against  the  protest  of  Pattison, 
Cassidy  and  the  immediate  friends  of  Pattison,  but  he 
managed  the  contest  vv^ith  such  consummate  skill,  with 
Harrity's  aid  as  chairman  of  the  Philadelphia  city 
committee,  that  all  confessed  his  eminent  ability 
and  unfaltering  fidelity. 

While  opposed  to  Pattison 's  nomination  in  1890,  he 
delivered  a  number  of  addresses  in  important  centers 
of  the  State  in  support  of  Pattison  which  attracted 
more  attention  than  any  of  the  many  other  leading 
speeches.  His  address  in  the  Academy  of  Music  in 
Philadelphia  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  political  deliv- 
erances of  the  time,  and  when  Pattison  was  elected,  it 
was  only  natural  that  Harrity  should  be  tendered  the 
secretaryship  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the  Governor 
was  quite  willing  to  yield  to  Harrity 's  vv^ishes  to  have 
Hensel  his  associate  in  the  cabinet.  Their  appoint- 
ment to  the  cabinet  was  simply  the  logical  result  of 
the  battle  they  had  won,  and  both  made  exceptionally 
creditable  records  as  State  officers,  records  which  are 
models  of  intelligent  and  thoroughly  honest  adminis- 
tration. Harrity  was  so  highly  appreciated  as  a 
political  leader  that  two  years  later  he  was  invited  to 
accept  the  chairmanship  of  the  National  Democratic 
committee,  and  he  conducted  the  Cleveland  cam- 
paign of  1892,  winning  the  last  victory  of  the  Democ- 
racy in  our  National  contests. 

A  successor  to  Cameron  in  the  Senate  was  to  be  chosen 
by  the  Republican  Legislature  elected  at  the  same  time 
that  Pattison  was  chosen  Governor,  and  there  was  an 
evident  disposition  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  Republi- 
can senators  and  representatives  to  rebel  against  the 
Quay-Cameron  domination  of  the  State  by  defeating 


Old  Time  Notes 


Cameron's  election.  The  result  might  have  been 
doubtful  but  for  the  fact  that  Cameron  was  openly 
hostile  to  the  Force  bill  then  pending  in  Congress,  by 
which  some  of  the  radical  Republican  leaders  assumed 
that  they  could  control  elections  in  the  Southern  States. 

I  have  stated  in  a  previous  chapter  how  Cameron 
and  Quay  visited  me  in  Philadelphia  a  short  time  be- 
fore the  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  and  how  it  was  then 
arranged  with  Governor-elect  Pattison  and  Harrity, 
then  prospective  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  to 
come  to  the  support  of  Cameron  for  the  Senatorship  if 
the  Republicans  organized  against  him  on  the  ground 
of  his  opposition  to  the  Force  bill.  It  soon  became 
known  that  the  Democrats  would  make  any  sacrifice 
to  sustain  a  Republican  Senator  who  was  opposed  to 
the  Force  bill,  and  Cameron's  election  was  thereby  made 
absolutely  safe.  The  Republicans  saw  that  they  could 
not  defeat  him,  and  they  gave  him  an  almost  united 
party  vote,  but  there  was  much  smothered  hostility 
to  the  Quay-Cameron  domination,  as  they  were  accused 
of  losing  the  Governor  to  the  party  in  the  State  by 
defying  the  wishes  of  the  Republican  people. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-one  was  an  off  year, 
but  the  defalcation  of  John  Bardsley,  treasurer  of 
Philadelphia,  whereby  the  State  and  city  lost  a  large 
amount  of  money,  involving  Republican  Auditor 
General  McCamant  and  State  Treasurer  Boyer,  sud- 
denly threw  the  Republican  leaders  into  confusion,  and 
threatened  the  party  with  defeat.  Pattison  was 
Governor,  and  his  stern  integrity  made  him  hew  to  the 
line  in  bringing  the  financial  officers  of  the  State  to 
accountability.  He  summoned  the  senate  in  special 
session  to  pass  upon  the  question  of  dismissing  the  audi- 
tor general  and  State  treasurer  for  complicity  in  the 
embezzlement  of  State  money. 

The  senate  was  strongly  Republican,  and  most  of  its 


of  Pennsylvania 


581 


members  regarded  the  preservation  of  the  Republican 
party  as  of  paramount  importance,  and  they  were  most 
willing  to  find  some  way  of  escaping  judgment  upon 
the  State  officials.  The  legal  acumen  of  Rufus  E. 
Shapley  opened  a  way  for  them  by  insisting  that  their 
alleged  offenses  were  indictable  in  the  courts,  whereby 
their  dismissal  could  be  accomplished  as  the  logical 
result  of  conviction.  His  argument  was  one  of  master- 
ly ability  in  support  of  the  theory  that  the  senate  could 
not  usurp  the  place  of  the  grand  jury  and  the  criminal 
courts  where  offenses  were  committed  by  public  officers. 
The  senate  welcomed  the  back  door  of  escape  that  was 
offered  them,  and  without  passing  upon  the  merits  of 
the  case,  dismissed  it  for  want  of  jurisdiction,  but  the 
people  of  the  State  were  greatly  aroused,  and  Quay's 
mastery  was  very  seriously  threatened. 

Quay  well  appreciated  the  peril  that  confronted  him, 
and  when  his  State  convention  met  he  had  an  elaborate 
platform  adopted  in  which  Postmaster  General  Wana- 
maker  was  highly  commended  for  his  "  clean,  business- 
like and  comprehensive  administration  of  postal 
affairs."  It  also  commicnded  the  Republican  officials  of 
Philadelphia  for  the  prompt  conviction  of  John  Bards- 
ley  for  embezzlement,  and  demanded  that  the  proper 
officials  should  prosecute  to  conviction  any  and  every 
guilty  official  without  regard  to  politics." 

He  knew  that  he  could  not  propose  any  candidate 
for  auditor  general  who  was  active  in  political  affairs 
and  command  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  he 
nominated  General  Gregg,  the  greatest  of  Pennsyl- 
vania's living  soldiers  at  the  time,  for  auditor  general. 
Gregg  had  never  been  in  politics,  but  his  nomination 
was  an  absolute  assurance  to  the  people  of  the  State 
that  the  office  would  be  administered  with  absolute 
integrity  and  fidelity.  With  him  he  nominated  J.  W. 
Morrison  for  State  treasurer,  a  man  of  high  character 


582 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  admitted  ability.  The  Democrats  nominated  Mr. 
Vv  right,  a  man  of  blameless  reputation,  for  auditor 
general,  and  Mr.  Tilden,  a  prominent  business  man, 
for  State  treasurer,  but  the  nomination  of  Gregg  saved 
the  party,  as  it  placed  a  man  in  the  one  important 
position  in  the  State  where  profligacy  or  fraud  in  the 
use  of  State  funds  could  be  halted.  The  result  was 
the  election  of  the  Republican  State  ticket  by  over 
58,000  for  auditor  general,  and  54,000  for  State  treas- 
urer. Quay  thus  saved  the  party  and  his  political 
mastery  in  the  State  by  giving  the  people  an  auditor 
general  who  would  certainly  halt  every  attempt  at  the 
misappropriation  of  the  funds  of  the  State. 


of  Pennsylvania 


583 


CIV. 

PENNSYLVANIA  POLITICS  1892-1895. 

Quay  and  Cameron  Not  Heartily  for  Harrison  —  But  He  Was  Renomi- 
nated —  Cleveland  a  Presidential  Candidate  for  the  Third  Time  — 
Tammany's  Intense  Opposition  to  Him — Local  Pennsylvania  Inter- 
ests —  Quay's  Second  Election  as  U.  S.  Senator  —  General  Hastings 
Elected  Governor  in  1894  —  His  Relations  with  Quay  Not  Very 
Cordial  —  Democratic  Opposition  Not  Formidable  —  Old-Timers  Re- 
called to  Public  Life,  Especially  Galusha  A.  Grow  —  Governor  Hast- 
ings and  the  State  Committee  —  Organized  Action  Against  Quay  in 
Philadelphia  —  Penrose  Sacrificed  for  Mayor  —  Creation  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Superior  Court. 

EIGHTEEN  hundred  and  ninety- two  opened  with 
generous  promises  to  the  Republicans.  The 
country  was  enjoying  a  more  than  ordinary 
degree  of  prosperity,  as  our  manufactures  had  been 
greatly  quickened  by  the  McKinley  tariff  bill  of  1890, 
although  it  had  been  repudiated  overwhelmingly  by 
the  people  in  the  election  of  a  Congress  soon  after  its 
adoption,  when  the  Democrats  reached  highwater 
mark  in  their  majority  of  Congressmen.  Harrison  was 
universally  respected  and  there  was  very  general  con- 
fidence in  his  public  and  private  integrity.  He  was 
not  personally  popular  with  the  leaders  of  the  party, 
but  the  Republican  people  had  faith  in  him  and  de- 
manded his  renomination. 

While  Harrison  was  in  some  measure  an  element  of 
weakness  on  the  Republican  side,  Cleveland  appeared 
in  the  early  part  of  the  campaign  of  1892  as  a  much 
greater  element  of  discord  in  the  Democratic  party 
than  was  Harrison  with  the  Republicans.  The  Demo- 
crats of  New  York  elected  a  solid  delegation  to  the 


584  Old  Time  Notes 

National  convention  instructed  and  publicly  pledged 
to  make  aggressive  opposition  to  the  renomination  of 
Cleveland,  and  as  New  York  was  regarded  as  the  pivotal 
State  of  the  contest,  the  Republicans  were  very  san- 
guine of  success. 

Senators  Cameron  and  Quay  were  not  cordial  sup- 
porters of  Harrison.  Their  relations  with  the  Presi- 
dent had  been  rather  severely  strained  during  the 
entire  period  of  his  administration,  and  as  Blaine 
seemed  to  be  the  only  competitor,  they  had  no  more 
love  for  Blaine  than  they  had  for  the  President.  The 
attitude  of  Cameron  and  Quay  on  the  Presidency  was 
clearly  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  Pennsylvania 
delegation  in  the  Minneapolis  convention,  where  Harri- 
son was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot,  receiving  535  1-2 
votes  to  182  1-2  votes  for  Blaine,  182  for  McKinley, 
4  for  Reed  and  i  for  Lincoln,  gave  42  to  McKinley,  19  to 
Harrison  and  3  to  Blaine. 

The  Democratic  National  convention  met  at  Chicago, 
and  Cleveland  was  nominated  on  the  first  ballot.  After 
several  days  of  very  stormy  sessions,  in  which  the 
entire  New  York  delegation  bitterly  denounced  and 
opposed  Cleveland,  he  received  617  1-3  votes  to  114 
for  Hill,  103  for  Boies,  362  for  Gorman  and  16  2-3 
for  Stevenson.  The  campaign  of  1892  presented  the 
singular  spectacle  of  both  candidates  for  President 
being  nominated  against  the  wishes  of  the  leaders  of 
their  respective  parties,  but  the  dominant  sentiment 
of  each  party  behind  the  leaders  had  controlled  the 
nominations.  Notwithstanding  the  intense  opposition 
of  the  Tammany  leaders  to  Cleveland,  from  the  time 
the  campaign  fairly  opened  until  election  day,  Cleve- 
land steadily  grew  in  strength  and  Harrison  visi- 
bly weakened,  it  resulted  in  Cleveland's  election  by  a 
large  popular  and  Electoral  majority,  with  a  Demo- 
cratic majority  of  3  in  the  Senate  over  Republicans 


Of  Pennsylvania 


585 


and  Independents,  and  a  majority  of  80  in  the  House. 

While  Quay  was  not  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of 
Harrison,  the  Legislature  to  be  chosen  that  year  would 
be  charged  with  the  election  of  his  successor,  and  he 
gave  special  attention  to  the  State  contest,  resulting 
in  a  majority  of  63,747  for  Harrison  in  the  State,  and 
substantially  like  majorities  for  Judge  Dean,  Repub- 
lican, over  Judge  Heydrick,  Democrat,  for  the  Supreme 
court,  and  for  William  Lilly  and  Alexander  McDowell, 
Republicans,  over  George  A.  Allen  and  Thomas  P. 
Merritt,  Democrats,  for  Congressmen-at-Large.  His 
special  care  of  the  senatorial  and  representative  dis- 
tricts was  exhibited  in  gaining  an  increased  Republican 
majority  on  joint  ballot  in  the  Legislature,  the  senate 
standing  33  Republicans  to  17  Democrats,  and  the 
house  134  Republicans  to  70  Democrats,  giving  the 
Republicans  80  majority  on  joint  ballot. 

No  organized  opposition  was  developed  against 
Quay's  re-election,  and  on  the  17th  of  January,  1893, 
he  was  elected  to  his  second  full  term  in  the  Senate, 
receiving  33  votes  in  the  State  senate,  to  14  for  George 
Ross,  Democrat,  one  for  William  Mutchler,  Democrat, 
one  absentee,  and  one  present  but  not  voting.  In  the 
house  the  vote  was  132  for  Quay,  66  for  Ross,  one  for 
William  F.  Harrity,  one  for  John  Dalzell  and  four 
absentees.  Quay's  nomination  in  the  caucus  was  made 
on  the  first  ballot,  the  vote  being  146  for  Quay,  14  for 
Dalzell,  one  for  Gobin  and  three  absent. 

Quay's  election  by  practically  a  unanimous  vote  of 
the  party  in  the  Legislature,  and  without  any  serious 
attempt  at  organized  opposition  to  his  leadership, 
apparently  made  him  more  strongly  entrenched  in 
supreme  authority  over  party  affairs  in  the  State  than 
he  had  ever  been  before,  and  the  off  year  contest  of 
1893  gave  him  a  largely  increased  majority,  as  Jackson, 
the  party  candidate  for  State  treasurer,  was  elected 


586 


Old  Time  Notes 


over  Osborne,  Democrat,  by  135,146,  and  Judge  D. 
Newlin  Fell,  Republican,  vv^as  elected  supreme  judge 
over  Samuel  G.  Thompson,  then  serving  by  appoint- 
ment of  Governor  Pattison  to  fill  a  vacancy,  by  sub- 
stantially the  same  majority. 

In  1894  Quay  was  compelled  to  face  a  political  con- 
dition in  which  he  could  not  be  absolute  master.  His 
party  leadership  was  undisputed,  but  the  Republican 
people  of  the  State  wanted  General  Hastings  for  Gov- 
ernor in  1890,  when  Quay  forced  the  nomination  of 
Delamater,  who  was  defeated.  Hastings  had  made 
the  fight  on  the  stump  for  Delamater,  came  out  of  the 
contest  greatly  strengthened,  and  Quay  could  not 
defeat  him  for  the  nomination  in  1894  without  resorting 
to  such  violent  methods  as  would  have  again  defeated 
the  party.  He  was  literally  compelled  to  accept  a 
candidate  for  Governor  whom  he  did  not  want. 

There  was  no  open  estrangement  between  Quay  and 
Hastings,  but  Quay  knew  that  Hastings  was  human, 
and  did  not  forget  the  fact  that  Quay  had  crucified 
him  four  years  before.  Quay's  only  course  was  to  fall 
in  with  the  support  of  Hastings,  and  while  their  rela- 
tions were  apparently  close  and  friendly  during  the 
campaign,  each  distrusted  the  other,  and  both  felt  that 
the  time  was  not  far  distant  when  an  open  issue  would 
arise  between  them.  Quay  accepted  the  situation  and 
gave  Hastings  the  nomination  practically  without  a  con- 
test. With  Hastings  were  nominated  Walter  Lyon, 
for  Lieutenant  Governor,  Amos  H.  Mylin,  for  auditor 
general,  and  General  J.  W.  Latta,  for  secretary  of  in- 
ternal affairs,  with  Galusha  A.  Grow  and  Mr.  Huff, 
for  Congressmen-at-Large. 

The  Democrats  nominated  William  M.  Singerly  for 
Governor,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  with  John  S.  Rilling 
for  Lieutenant  Governor,  David  F.  Magee  for  auditor 
general,  W.  W.  Greenland  for  secretary  of  internal 


Of  Pennsylvania 


587 


affairs,  and  Mr.  Meyer  and  Mr.  Collins  for  Congress- 
men-at-Large,  and  he  entered  into  the  contest  with 
great  enthusiasm  and  high  hopes  of  success.  He 
traversed  the  State  in  a  special  car,  savv^  the  people  of 
every  section,  and  when  he  returned  home  a  week  before 
the  election,  he  was  absolutely  confident  of  his  success. 
It  was  his  first  experiment  in  contact  with  the  enthu- 
siasm of  country  political  assemblies,  and  he  informed 
me  three  days  before  the  election  that  he  certainly  had 
more  than  an  even  chance  to  be  the  next  Governor  of 
the  State,  and  he  was  dumfounded  when  a  majority  of 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  was  rolled  up  against  him, 
with  substantially  like  majorities  for  all  the  Republi- 
can candidates. 

The  contest  of  1894  called  back  into  public  life  a  man 
who  for  more  than  fifty  years  has  been  intimately  con- 
nected with  National  affairs,  and  who  rendered  most 
conspicuous  service  to  his  party  and  to  the  country. 
Galusha  A.  Grow  was  made  a  compromise  candidate 
for  Congress  in  the  Wilmot  district  in  1850.  Wilmot 
had  been  renominated  for  a  fourth  term,  but  the  old 
line  Democrats  had  bolted  against  him,  and  nominated 
another  Democratic  candidate.  Ten  days  before  the 
election  Wilmot  agreed  to  withdraw  if  Grow  was  taken 
in  his  place,  and  he  was  accepted  and  elected  as  a 
regular  Democrat.  He  was  re-elected  in  1852  on  the 
Democratic  ticket,  and  in  1854  was  elected  to  a  third 
term  as  an  anti-slavery  Democrat.  In  1856  his  anti- 
slavery  convictions  brought  him  into  the  most  sympa- 
thetic relations  with  the  Republican  party,  and  he  was 
elected  to  a  fourth  term  as  a  Republican,  and  was  re- 
turned as  a  Republican  by  the  same  district  in  1858 
and  i860.  In  1862  a  new  apportionment  had  been 
made,  giving  him  the  district  of  Luzerne  and  Susque- 
hanna instead  of  his  old  district  of  Susquehanna, 
Bradford  and  lioga,  and  in  the  Republican  slump  of 


588 


Old  Time  Notes 


1862  he  was  defeated  after  having  served  twelve  years 
consecutively  in  Congress. 

Mr.  Grow  has  many  important  monuments  to  his 
statesmanship  to  make  his  name  memorable.  He  was 
the  author  of  the  free  homestead  law,  and  battled 
many  years  before  he  achieved  success.  Even  when 
he  had  accomplished  the  passage  of  a  very  crude  home- 
stead bill  by  both  branches  of  Congress,  it  was  defeated 
by  the  veto  of  President  Buchanan.  He  v/as  so  highly 
respected  that  when  Congress  met  in  1861,  just  when 
the  Civil  War  had  spread  the  shadows  of  the  angel  of 
sorrow  over  the  entire  land,  he  was  elected  speaker  of 
the  House,  and  he  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the 
loyal  forces  in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress.  He 
accomplished  the  final  passage  of  the  homestead  law 
that  has  given  free  homes  to  tens  of  thousands  of  our 
people,  and  his  slogan  in  the  political  battles  of  those 
days  was  free  soil,  free  homes  and  free  schools. 

Had  he  not  been  retired  from  Congress  by  an  unfortun- 
ate Congressional  apportionment,  that  attempted  to  give 
an  additional  Republican  district,  he  would  doubtless 
have  continued  to  preside  over  the  House  during  the 
entire  period  of  the  war.  He  was  not  a  political  mana- 
ger in  the  narrow  and  meaner  sense  of  the  term.  No 
man  could  better  master  a  broad  wise  policy  for  the 
party  in  State  or  Nation,  but  he  was  a  stranger  to  the 
arts  of  modern  politics,  and  for  many  years  was  not  in 
favor  with  the  dominant  power  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Pennsylvania.  After  filling  a  vacancy  for  one 
year,  he  was  nominated  for  Congressman- at- Large  in 
1894  chiefly  because  Quay  believed  it  to  be  wise  to 
make  that  concession  to  the  anti-machine  element  of 
the  State.  Grow  had  been  the  independent  bolting  can- 
didate for  Senator  in  1881,  and  had  been  turned  down 
several  times  in  struggles  for  the  Governorship  or  the 
Senator  ship.    Quay  exhibited  his  usual  sagacity  in 


Of  Pennsylvania 


5^9 


thus  calling  Grow  back  to  the  political  life  he  had 
honored  years  before,  and  so  acceptable  was  Grow's 
service  in  the  National  Congress  that  he  was  renomi- 
nated and  re-elected  to  four  consecutive  terms  as  Con- 
gressman-at- Large,  ending  his  last  service  in  the 
councils  of  the  Nation  on  the  4th  of  March,  1903,  just 
fifty-two  years  after  he  had  first  appeared  there,  and 
the  two  periods  of  his  service  aggregated  twenty-one 
years,  a  continuous  service  of  twelve  years  beginning 
in  1 85 1,  and  a  continuous  service  of  nine  years  begin- 
ning in  1895.  He  was  one  of  the  Republican  leaders 
whose  skirts  were  never  stained  by  personal  graft  or 
political  dishonesty,  and  his  ability  as  a  disputant, 
with  his  genial  personal  qualities,  commanded  the 
mingled  respect  and  affection  of  all  who  were  brought 
into  intimate  relations  with  him. 

The  Congressmen- at-Large  were  elected  simply  be- 
cause of  a  new  apportionment  that  gave  Pennsylvania 
two  additional  members,  and  the  Legislature  failed  to 
add  the  additional  districts.  But  for  the  fact  that  an 
apportionm^ent  had  been  passed  by  the  Legislature  to 
fill  our  entire  delegation  by  separate  districts  in  1902, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  Mr.  Grow  would  have  been 
continued  as  Congressman-at-Large  as  long  as  his 
advancing  years  left  him  equipped  for  the  performance 
of  its  duties.  Although  well  passed  the  patriarchal 
age  when  he  retired  from  his  long  and  conspicuous 
Congressional  service,  he  was  one  of  the  most  active 
and  efficient  of  all  our  Representatives,  and  he  stood 
out  with  singular  eminence  as  one  of  the  great  men  of 
the  past  who  live  with  continued  usefulness  in  the 
present.  By  the  tidal  wave  that  carried  the  Republi- 
can ticket  to  overwhelming  victory  the  Democratic 
strength  in  the  Legislature  was  almost  annihilated,  the 
Senate  standing  43  Republicans  to  7  Democrats,  and 
the  House  117  Republicans  to  27  Democrats. 


590 


Old  Time  Notes 


While  Governor  Hastings  did  not  precipitate  a  fac- 
tional war  with  the  Quay  power  of  the  State,  it  soon 
became  evident  that  the  relations  between  the  Governor 
and  the  Senator  threatened  the  party  with  internal 
disturbance.  Several  times  they  were  on  the  point  of 
open  breach  during  the  first  month  of  the  administra- 
tion, but  the  sore  was  temporarily  healed  by  the  inter- 
position of  friends  and  compromised,  but  later  all 
masks  vv^ere  torn  off  on  both  sides,  and  Hastings  decided 
to  lock  horns  with  Quay  to  wrest  the  party  mastery 
from  the  old  Senatorial  leader.  When  the  estrange- 
ment between  the  two  leaders  had  passed  the  point  of 
compromise.  Quay  adopted  the  heroic  method  of  pub- 
licly announcing  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  position 
of  Chairman  of  the  Republican  State  committee  some 
months  before  the  meeting  of  the  State  convention  that 
would  have  the  power  of  appointment. 

Quay's  announcement  was  met  by  the  public  an- 
nouncement of  Governor  Hastings  that  he  would  be  a 
delegate  in  the  coming  State  convention,  and  would 
be  a  candidate  for  president  of  the  body.  It  was  the 
custom  of  the  party  for  the  president  of  the  State  con- 
vention to  appoint  the  chairman  of  the  State  con- 
mittee,  after  consulting  the  candidates  on  the  State 
ticket,  but  the  president  of  the  convention  is  only  a 
servant  of  the  body,  and  subject  to  its  orders  on  all 
questions  of  party  policy.  In  1865,  when  Cameron, 
by  adroit  management,  secured  the  president  of  the 
convention  that  had  a  majority  of  Curtin  delegates  in 
it,  Cameron  expecting  thereby  to  get  possession  of  the 
State  organization  by  naming  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee, the  convention,  on  motion  of  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
elected  John  Cessna  chairman  by  resolution  of  the 
body,  and  Senator  Welsh  was,  in  like  manner,  made 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  State  committee  by  the 
Reading  convention  of  i860. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


591 


The  arrangement  to  bring  out  Governor  Hastings  as 
an  open  candidate  for  president  of  the  convention,  with 
a  view  of  controlling  the  State  committee,  was  made  in 
Philadelphia  at  a  dinner  given  to  the  Governor  by  some 
of  his  special  friends,  who  were  hostile  to  Quay.  Late 
in  the  night  after  the  dinner  adjourned,  one  of  the  guests 
came  to  the  editorial  office  of  ''The  Times,"  and  in- 
formed me  that  Quay  was  now  beaten  for  chairman  of 
the  State  committee,  as  Governor  Hastings  had  agreed 
to  announce  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency 
of  the  convention,  and  that  he  could  not  be  defeated. 
I  reminded  him  that  the  president  of  the  convention 
was  not  supreme  in  the  matter  of  selecting  the  chair- 
man of  the  State  committee,  and  that  even  if  Hastings 
won  the  presidency  of  the  body,  it  would  be  in  the 
power  of  the  convention  to  elect  Quay  or  any  other 
person  to  the  position  of  chairman,  but  it  was  believed 
that  Hastings,  who  vv^as  then  just  at  the  beginning  of 
his  administration,  could  not  be  defeated,  and  the 
organization  against  Quay  was  earnestly  extended  to 
every  section  of  the  State. 

It  was  recognized  on  all  sides  as  a  fight  to  a  finish 
between  Quay  and  Hastings,  and  both  exhausted  their 
efforts  to  win.  Quay  was  not  then  in  specially  easy 
circumstances,  but  he  plunged  into  the  fight,  strained 
his  credit  to  raise  money,  and  personally  visited  all  of 
the  strong  counties  of  the  State.  While  Hastings  had 
occupied  a  strong  position  before  the  people  as  Gover- 
nor, he  vv^as  outclassed  by  Quay  in  a  contest  that  de- 
pended largely  upon  skilful  and  desperate  political  man- 
agement. The  result  yvrs  that  Quay  astounded  the 
Governor  and  his  followers  at  the  convention  by  coming 
to  the  front  with  a  decided  majority  of  the  delegates 
and  giving  himself  a  triumphant  election  as  chairman 
of  the  State  committee.  It  was  a  very  close  struggle 
to  Quay,  but  he  realized  the  fact  that  he  had  to  choose 


59^ 


Old  Time  Notes 


between  winning  the  battle  against  the  Governor,  and 
confessing  that  his  leadership  in  the  State  was  subor- 
dinated to  the  domination  of  a  superior  power. 

The  murmurings  of  factional  discord  were  heard 
immediately  after  the  election  of  Hastings,  and  they 
took  shape  in  organized  action  against  Quay's  mastery 
in  Philadelphia  early  in  1895.  Charles  A.  Porter,  then 
senator,  and  David  Martin,  since  senator  and  secre- 
tary of  the  Commonwealth,  were  in  absolute  control 
of  the  Republican  organization  in  the  city,  and  they 
gave  the  first  sign  of  aggressive  hostility  to  Quay's 
leadership.  Boies  Penrose,  then  a  member  of  the 
State  senate,  was  apparently  slated,  with  the  consent 
of  leaders  generally,  as  the  candidate  for  mayor  at  the 
February  election,  and  a  card  signed  by  a  thousand 
prominent  citizens,  and  occupying  a  page  of  the  leading 
newspapers,  was  published,  supporting  Penrose's  can- 
didacy. 

For  a  time  all  seemed  to  be  serene,  and  Penrose's 
nomination  and  election  were  accepted  as  assured,  but 
several  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the  convention 
Penrose  was  publicly  and  violently  assailed  in  various 
religious  quarters,  and  the  friends  of  Penrose  became 
convinced  that  the  scandals  were  inspired  by  Martin 
and  Porter  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  retirement 
of  Penrose.  Quay,  Penrose,  Durham  and  their  adher- 
ents in  the  city  had  been  gradually  drifting  away  from 
the  Martin-Porter  leadership,  and  it  soon  became 
evident  that  Martin  and  Porter  had  decided  to  defeat 
Penrose  in  the  convention,  but  they  did  not  permit  the 
name  of  the  man  to  take  his  place  to  be  known  until 
the  morning  of  the  convention,  when  they  gave  orders 
for  the  nomination  of  City  Solicitor  Warwick,  and  the 
order  was  obeyed.  This  was  the  first  skirmish  against 
Quay  in  1895,  and  it  was  logically  followed  by  his  con- 
test with  Governor  Hastings. 


of  Pennsylvania 


593 


When  Warwick  was  nominated  by  Martin  and  Porter, 
without  having  been  even  suggested  as  a  candidate  at 
the  primaries,  Quay  was  ready  for  open  revolt,  and  in 
a  moment  of  forgetfulness  he  rose  in  the  United  States 
Senate  and  made  a  personal  attack  on  Martin.  The 
Democrats,  believing  that  in  the  disturbed  condition 
of  the  Republican  party  they  could  elect  the  mayor, 
asked  ex-Governor  Pattison  to  accept  the  nomination, 
but  he  refused  unless  he  was  assured  of  the  support  of 
the  Quay  and  Durham  element  of  the  city.  Mr.  Har- 
rity  presented  the  situation  to  me  and  asked  me  to  go 
to  Washington  and  confer  with  Quay  directly  on  the 
subject.  I  did  so  and  spent  the  evening  with  Quay  at 
Senator  Cameron's  house,  where  the  matter  was  fully 
discussed.  Cameron  took  no  part  in  it,  as  he  declined 
to  be  involved,  but  Quay,  after  going  over  the  whole 
question  very  fully,  instructed  me  to  advise  Harrity 
that  Pattison  would  be  supported  by  him  and  his 
friends  against  Warwick. 

I  telegraphed  Harrity  at  once,  and  it  was  that  assur- 
ance from  Quay  that  made  Pattison  accept  the  nomi- 
nation. There  had  been  severe  business  and  industrial 
revolution  in  the  country  that  was  charged  to  the 
Democratic  tariff  bill,  and  the  discussions  of  the  Demo- 
crats in  Congress  against  sound  money  disgusted  the 
business  men  of  Philadelphia  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
was  found  impossible  to  make  them  participate  in  a 
revolution  that  would  give  Philadelphia  a  Democratic 
mayor.  Quay  and  Durham  were  thus  finally  com- 
pelled by  conditions  which  they  could  not  control  to 
give  a  passive  support  to  Warwick,  who  was  elected 
by  a  majority  of  61,309.  But  for  the  assurance  given 
by  Quay,  which  at  the  time  he  made  in  perfect  good 
faith,  Pattison  would  not  have  accepted  the  nomination 
for  mayor. 

Quay  regarded  Penrose  as  having  been  crucified  to 
2—38 


594 


Old  Time  Notes 


gratify  factional  interests,  and  it  was  that  rejection  of 
Penrose  for  mayor  by  the  Martin-Porter  leadership  that 
made  Quay  finally  accept  Penrose  as  his  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator,  and  to  fight  one  of  the  most 
desperate  battles  of  his  life  to  make  Penrose  his  Sena- 
torial colleague. 

The  superior  court  of  Pennsylvania  had  been  created 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  1895,  and  under  the  act 
providing  for  the  election  of  the  seven  judges,  each 
voter  could  vote  for  but  six,  thus  giving  the  Democrats 
one  member  of  the  court.  The  Republicans  nomi- 
nated present  President  Judge  Rice  and  Judges  Beaver, 
Willard,  Wickham,  Reeder  and  Orlady,  all  of  whom 
were  elected,  and  Yerkes,  Moorehead,  Noyes,  Smith, 
Bechtel  and  Magee  were  the  Democratic  candidates,  of 
whom  Smith  received  the  highest  vote  and  became  the 
seventh  member  of  the  court.  It  was  originally  given 
final  jurisdiction  in  cases  not  exceeding  $1,000,  but 
later  that  jurisdiction  was  enlarged  to  $ i , 500.  Since  the 
enlargement  of  the  jurisdiction  it  fairly  divides  the  busi- 
ness of  the  higher  court,  and  has  enabled  the  supreme 
judicial  tribunal  of  the  State  to  give  due  deliberation 
to  the  many  important  questions  presented  for  its 
final  judgment.  Of  the  judges  originally  chosen 
Reeder  and  Wickham  died  in  service,  and  Willard, 
William  W.  Porter  and  Mitchell,  the  last  two  having 
been  elected  to  fill  vacancies,  resigned,  leaving  as  the 
present  court  President  Judge  Rice  with  judges 
Beaver,  Orlady,  Porter,  Henderson,  Morrison  and  Head. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


595 


CV. 

WANAMAKER  VERSUS  QUAY. 

Wanamaker's  Ambition  to  Be  U.  S.  Senator  —  Aspiration  Hopeless  With- 
out Quay's  Aid  —  Negotiating  With  Quay  —  An  Agreement  Reached 

—  How  a  Rupture  Came  —  Wanamaker  as  an  Open,  Aggressive  Can- 
didate —  The  Contest  for  the  Party  Nomination  —  Penrose  Nomi- 
nated and  Elected  —  The  National  Politics  of  1896  —  Gubernatorial 
Battle  of  1898  —  Quay  Forced  to  Accept  William  A.  Stone  as  Can- 
didate —  The  Wanamaker  Opposition  of  That  Campaign  —  The  Battle 
Fought  in  the  Legislative  Districts  —  Quay  Prosecuted  for  Misap- 
propriating State  Funds  —  Fight  for  U.  S.  Senator  in  the  Legislature 

—  The  Famous  Deadlock  of  1899  —  Quay  Acquitted  in  Criminal  Trial 
and  Appointed  U.  S.  Senator  by  Governor  Stone. 

EIGHTEEN  hundred  and  ninety-six  was  Presi- 
dential year,  and  it  opened  with  apparently 
quite  serene  political  conditions  for  Senator 
Quay.  His  triumph  over  Hastings  in  1885  in  his 
struggle  for  the  chairmanship  of  the  State  committee 
made  Quay  and  Hastings  respect  each  other  sufficiently 
to  understand  the  necessity  of  pooling  their  political 
issues,  and  the  Governor  was  one  of  the  first  to  fall  in 
with  Quay's  idea  to  strengthen  himself  in  the  State 
and  country  by  Pennsylvania  presenting  his  name  to 
the  National  convention  as  its  candidate  for  President. 

A  United  States  Senator  was  to  be  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  elected  in  the  fall  of  1896,  as  Cameron  was 
weary  of  Senatorial  duties  and  honors,  and  was  not  in 
hearty  accord  with  his  party  on  the  silver  issue.  It 
was  understood  early  in  the  year  that  Cameron  would 
not  be  a  candidate  under  any  circumstances,  and  a 
number  of  aspirants  were  in  the  field,  most  of  v/hom 
were  among  Quay's  lieutenants,  and  he  decided  to  let 
the  contest  for  Senator  progress  without  interference 


596 


Old  Time  Notes 


on  his  part  until  the  time  came  when  he  could  decide 
intelHgently  how  best  to  direct  the  final  outcome. 

Ex-Postmaster  General  Wanamaker  was  ambitious 
to  be  United  States  Senator,  and  openly  expressed  his 
wishes  to  his  friends  on  every  suitable  occasion.  He 
did  not  want  the  care  and  worry  of  dispensing  patron- 
age, but  with  his  wonderful  adaptability  during  his 
four  years  as  a  Cabinet  officer,  he  made  himself  an 
unusually  intelligent  master  of  all  the  problems  of 
statesmanship,  and  felt  that  he  could  render  his  State 
some  service  and  wear  the  Senatorial  honors  with 
credit  to  himself.  He  had  frequently  discussed  with 
me  the  question  of  becoming  a  candidate  for  Senator, 
and  I  was  anxious  to  have  him  succeed.  Some  time 
in  the  early  months  of  1896  I  told  him  that  he  could 
never  hope  to  be  Senator  without  the  aid  of  Quay; 
that  Quay  had  absolute  control  of  the  organization  of 
the  party  in  the  State,  and  that  meant  a  decisive 
advantage  in  the  nomination  of  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives, and  there  was  no  reason  why  he  and  Quay 
should  not  be  in  entire  harmony. 

Quay  wanted  the  control  of  National  and  State 
patronage  to  maintain  his  organization,  while  Wana- 
maker would  be  more  than  willing  to  have  the  vexa- 
tions of  local  contests  for  appointments  go  entirely  to 
his  colleague.  He  wanted  to  be  a  Senator,  and  to  be 
free  from  the  tide-water  Senatorial  duties  of  wrestling 
with  political  aspirants  throughout  the  State.  Wana- 
maker's  ambition  was  to  make  his  mark  in  intelligent 
and  practical  statesmanship,  and  he  was  entirely  will- 
ing to  unite  with  Quay  on  the  basis  of  Quay  running 
the  party  organization  with  Wanamaker  as  chief  con- 
tributor for  the  necessary  expenses. 

After  full  discussion  of  the  subject  Wanamaker  re- 
quested me  to  go  to  Washington  and  present  the  matter 
to  Quay.    I  did  so,  and  found  that  the  only  obstacle 


Of  Pennsylvania 


597 


to  entire  harmony  between  Quay  and  Wanamaker  was 
Quay's  apprehension  that  Wanamaker,  if  he  reached 
the  Senate,  might  become  ambitious  to  control  the 
organization  himself  and  supplant  Quay.  I  insisted 
that  Wanamaker  had  no  such  purpose,  and  that  if  he 
had,  he  could  not  accomplish  it  for  want  of  practical 
knowledge  of  modern  political  methods;  and  after 
discussing  the  question  for  an  hour  or  more,  Quay 
finally  decided  that  he  and  Wanamaker  could  harmon- 
ize on  the  basis  of  Wanamaker  becoming  Senator  and 
Quay  to  retain  control  and  mastery  of  the  organization. 

Quay  made  an  appointment  to  see  Wanamaker  in 
Washington  the  following  day,  and  I  telegraphed  Wana- 
maker that  Quay's  secretary  would  meet  him  at  the 
train  and  take  him  directly  to  Quay's  committee  room. 
I  did  not  remain  in  Washington,  and  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  what  transpired  between  Quay  and  Wana- 
maker until  the  morning  after  Wanamaker  had  re- 
turned, when  I  called  upon  him  and  inquired  whether 
their  conference  had  been  entirely  satisfactory.  He 
informed  me  that  they  had  agreed  on  every  question  of 
detail.  Wanamaker  was  to  contribute  the  necessary 
means  for  Quay  to  maintain  his  organization  in  the 
State,  and  Quay  at  the  proper  stage  of  the  contest  was 
to  make  a  combination  to  elect  Wanamaker  to  the 
Senate.  I  told  him  that  I  wished  no  further  infor- 
mation as  to  their  arrangements,  and  left  entirely  satis- 
fied that,  with  the  active  or  passive  support  of  the 
people  in  the  party  that  Wanamaker  represented.  Quay 
could  control  the  organization  on  any  lines  he  chose 
to  adopt. 

That  condition  continued  for  six  weeks  or  two  months 
without  any  public  knowledge  of  the  agreement  between 
Quay  and  Wanamaker.  Finally,  it  became  necessary 
for  Quay  to  organize  a  movement  in  one  of  the  im- 
portant counties  of  the  State  that  needed  campaign 


598 


Old  Time  Notes 


funds,  and  Quay  'phoned  Wanamaker  stating  what 
was  required.  Wanamaker  promptly  answered  acced- 
ing to  Quay's  suggestion,  but  unfortunately  named  a 
third  man  who  would  conduct  the  business  transac- 
tions with  Quay,  and  the  man  named  was  at  that  time 
regarded  by  Quay  as  not  especially  friendly  to  him. 
Quay's  suspicion  was  immediately  aroused,  and  he 
petulantly  answered  that  the  arrangement  was  off,  and 
closed  the  'phone. 

It  was  a  mistake  on  both  sides.  Wanamaker  should 
have  brought  in  no  one  between  Quay  and  himself, 
although  he  named  a  man  who  would  have  been  in- 
capable of  treachery  to  either.  Quay  erroneously- 
assumed  that  Wanamaker  was  shifting  the  responsi- 
bility to  another,  thus  declining  to  assume  his  share 
with  Quay,  and  placing  Quay  in  the  hands  of  a  third 
man  who  would  have  opportunity  to  betray  him. 
Wanamaker  promptly  advised  me  of  the  unfortunate 
breach,  and  exhaustive  efforts  were  made  to  restore 
the  old  relations  between  them,  but  Quay  openly 
declared  his  distrust  of  Wanamaker 's  fidelity,  and 
thus  came  the  breach  that  not  only  precipitated  upon 
Quay  a  most  desperate  struggle  for  the  control  of  the 
Legislature,  but  renewed  the  struggle  for  Governor  two 
years  later,  defeated  Quay  for  re-election  to  the  Senate, 
and  was  responsible  for  his  prosecution  in  the  criminal 
courts. 

Wanamaker  became  an  open  and  aggressive  candi- 
date for  United  States  Senator,  with  Mr.  Van  Valken- 
burg,  now  editor  of  the  North  American,"  as  his  chief 
lieutenant.  The  war  was  carried  into  every  senatorial 
and  representative  district  where  it  was  expected  to 
elect  Republicans.  Van  Valkenburg  resided  in  Tioga 
County,  had  been  one  of  Quay's  lieutenants,  was  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  Quay's  political  methods,  and  he 
proved  a  most  formidable  leader  against  the  Quay 


Of  Pennsylvania 


599 


organization.  A  number  of  senatorial  districts  were 
deadlocked,  and  finally  required  the  expenditure  of 
thousands  of  dollars  to  accomplish  nominations.  Wana- 
maker  contributed  lavishly,  as  it  became  necessary 
thus  to  strengthen  his  lines  and  hold  them  against  the 
equally  or  more  lavish  expenditure  of  the  Quay  organ- 
ization. 

A  fearful  crop  of  scandals  and  some  criminal  prose- 
cutions grew  out  of  this  extraordinary  contest  for  the 
control  of  the  party  nomination,  and  the  election  of 
candidates  after  having  been  named  b}^  the  party,  but 
the  prosecutions  were  finally  adjusted  because  mutual 
interests  dictated  the  necessity.  Quay  had  a  decided 
advantage  in  the  struggle  because  he  had  the  organi- 
zation of  the  party,  that  often  counts  even  against  a 
popular  majority,  and  Quay  captured  a  majority  of 
the  Republicans  of  both  senate  and  house. 

When  the  Legislature  came  to  the  election  of  the 
United  States  Senator,  a  test  vote  in  the  house  caucus 
gave  93  for  the  Penrose  representatives  and  71  for 
Wanamaker's,  and  in  the  joint  Republican  caucus,  on 
January  5th,  Penrose  received  133  votes  to  75  for 
Wanamaker,  i  for  J.  B.  Robinson  and  i  for  Cameron. 
Wanamaker  bowed  to  the  mandate  of  the  party,  and 
his  friends  made  the  nomination  of  Penrose  unanimous. 
Penrose  was  elected  on  the  19th  of  January,  receiving 
the  votes  of  42  senators  to  6  for  Chauncey  F.  Black, 
Democrat.  In  the  house  the  vote  was  168  for  Pen- 
rose, 33  for  Black  and  i  for  Wanamaker.  While  Penrose 
was  elected  by  nearly  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Republi- 
cans of  the  Legislature,  the  factional  feeling  was  in- 
tensely embittered,  and  it  continued  until  it  reached  its 
culmination  two  years  later,  when  Quay  was  defeated. 

There  were  some  very  severe  complications  in  the 
contest  of  1896  affecting  the  disputing  factional  leaders. 
Martin  and  Porter  were  in  command  of  the  organiza- 


6oo 


Old  Time  Notes 


tion  in  Philadelphia,  and  they  were  bitterly  hostile  to 
Quay.  As  they  had  lately  crucified  Penrose  as  a  can- 
didate for  mayor,  they  were  much  less  willing  to  have 
him  as  United  States  Senator.  They  asserted  their 
mastery  in  a  rather  violent  manner  by  nominating  Coro- 
ner Ashbridge,  later  elected  mayor,  for  sheriff  over 
Alexander  Crow,  Jr.  Crow  represented  the  Quay  and 
Penrose  interests  with  Durham  as  the  active  leader, 
and  they  decided  to  overthrow  the  Martin- Porter  con- 
trol by  defeating  the  candidate  for  Sheriff. 

A  conference  was  had  with  Harrity  and  his  friends, 
who  then  controlled  the  Democratic  organization  in  the 
city,  and  they  finally  agreed  to  make  Crow  their  candi- 
date for  sheriff  if  he  ran  as  an  Independent.  The  pro- 
gramme was  carried  out,  and  after  a  contest  of  unusual 
bitterness.  Crow  defeated  Ashbridge  by  18,995  majority 
at  the  same  election  that  gave  McKinley,  the  Republi- 
can candidate  for  President,  113,139  majority.  This 
defeat  of  the  Martin- Porter  domination,  followed  by 
the  election  of  Penrose,  was  soon  followed  by  Quay, 
Penrose  and  Durham  capturing  the  organization  of  the 
city,  and  practically  retiring  the  Martin-Porter  element. 

Quay  had  absolute  control  of  the  Republican  State 
convention  and  received  a  very  cordial  endorsement  as 
Pennsylvania's  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomina- 
nation  for  the  Presidency.  The  only  opposing  element 
in  the  convention  was  that  controlled  by  Magee,  of  Pitts- 
burg, who  with  others  refused  to  support  Quay.  The 
ballot  in  the  National  convention  gave  661  1-2  for 
McKinley,  84  1-2  for  Reed,  with  61  1-2  for  Quay,  58  of 
which  were  given  by  Pennsylvania,  2  by  Georgia,  i  by 
Mississippi  and  one-half  by  Louisiana. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  struggle  for  the  Presidential 
nomination  it  looked  as  if  Quay  might  have  some 
chance,  as  the  contest  between  McKinley  and  Reed 
was  aggressive  and  bitter,  but  some  weeks  before  the 


of  Pennsylvania 


6oi 


convention  met  Vermont  led  off  for  McKinley  against 
Reed,  and  was  followed  by  broken  delegations  in  one  or 
two  of  the  other  New  England  States,  which  practically 
retired  Reed,  and  McKinley 's  nomination  was  conceded 
before  the  convention  met.  Quay's  organization  car- 
ried the  State  for  McKinley  by  295,070  plurality,  and 
Galusha  A.  Grow  and  Samuel  A.  Davenport,  Republi- 
cans, were  elected  [Congressmen-at-Large  over  Dewitt 
and  Allman,  Democrats,  by  a  like  majority.  Eighteen 
hundred  and  ninety- seven  was  an  off  year  with  only  a 
State  treasurer  to  elect,  and  James  S.  Beacon  was 
Quay's  slated  candidate,  and  he  was  nominated  prac- 
tically without  a  contest  and  elected  over  Brown, 
Democrat,  by  129,717  plurality. 

In  1898  Quay  was  confronted  by  the  most  formidable 
opposition  that  he  had  ever  met  in  any  of  his  many 
desperate  struggles  to  maintain  his  mastery.  William 
A.  Stone,  then  a  Representative  in  Congress  from 
Allegheny,  with  a  gallant  record  as  a  soldier,  had  made 
an  aggressive  battle  for  the  Republican  nomination 
for  Governor.  He  was  not  originally  slated  by  Quay, 
but  the  strength  he  developed  and  the  devotion  he  had 
exhibited  for  Quay  in  all  his  conflicts  led  to  Quay 
accepting  Stone  as  his  candidate.  Wanamaker  was 
smarting  under  the  defeat  he  had  suffered  for  Senator 
two  years  before.  He  felt  that  the  power  of  organiza- 
tion rather  than  public  sentiment  had  given  success  to 
his  opponent,  and  a  conference  of  the  anti-Quay  men 
was  called  to  meet  in  Philadelphia,  attended  by  a 
number  of  leading  representative  Republicans,  at 
which,  after  a  conference  with  Wanamaker,  it  was 
decided  that  he  should  take  the  field  as  a  candidate 
for  the  party  nomination  for  Governor. 

Not  only  was  a  determined  fight  made  against 
Quay's  candidate  for  Governor,  but  the  war  was  also 
carried  into  the  Legislative  districts  and  defeated 


6o2 


Old  Time  Notes 


Quay's  re-election  to  the  Senate.  Wanamaker  entered 
into  the  campaign  with  great  earnestness  and  enthusi- 
asm, and  deHvered  a  series  of  pubHc  addresses,  which 
for  ability  and  skill  have  rarely  if  ever  been  surpassed 
in  our  State.  His  addresses  were  carefully  reported 
and  published  in  most  of  the  daily  newspapers  every 
morning,  and  they  exhibited  a  versatility  and  a  master- 
ly grasp  of  both  general  and  local  political  problems 
that  greatly  enthused  his  friends  and  astounded  his 
opponents 

Special  attention  was  given  to  the  Legislative  dis- 
tricts, and  a  number  of  the  Quay  candidates  were 
defeated  in  close  districts  by  the  Independents,  under 
the  lead  of  Wanamaker,  either  supporting  third  candi- 
dates or  voting  directly  for  the  Democratic  nominees. 
The  Republican  ticket  consisted  of  Stone  for  Governor, 
General  J.  P.  S.  Gobin  for  Lieutenant  Governor,  General 
J.  W.  Latta  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs,  and  Grow 
and  Davenport  for  re-election  as  Congressmen-at-Large. 
The  Democrats  nominated  George  A.  Jenks,  one  of 
their  ablest  men  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  for  Gover- 
nor, with  William  H.  Sowden  for  Lieutenant  Governor, 
Patrick  DeLacey  for  secretary  of  internal  affairs,  and 
J.  N.  Weller  and  F.  B.  lans  for  Congressmen-at-Large. 
The  campaign  was  fought  with  great  earnestness  on 
both  sides,  and  Wanamaker  was  again  outclassed  in 
locking  horns  with  the  Quay  organization,  and  Stone 
won  an  easy  victory  for  the  nomination. 

While  there  was  no  organized  opposition  to  the 
Republican  State  ticket,  a  furious  battle  was  fought 
out  in  the  legislative  districts,  and  the  Democrats  were 
greatly  encouraged  by  the  aggressive  attitude  of  Wana- 
maker. The  result  was  the  election  of  Stone  by  117,- 
906  plurality,  but  the  Independents  gave  the  Demo- 
crats considerable  gains  in  the  Legislature.    On  joint 


Of  Pennsylvania 


603 


ballot  the  Republicans  had  164,  Democrats  84,  and  the 
Fusionists  (anti-Quay)  6. 

The  anti-Quay  men,  under  the  lead  of  Wanamaker 
and  his  lieutenants,  confronted  Quay  in  the  Legislature 
in  his  struggle  for  re-election  to  the  Senate.  So  in- 
flamed had  factional  passion  become  between  the  Quay 
and  anti-Quay  forces  of  the  State  that  it  led  to  the 
indictment  of  Quay  on  the  charge  of  misappropriation 
of  State  funds.  That  indictment  was  pending  when 
the  Legislature  met,  and  the  demand  was  made  at  Har- 
risburg  that  no  man  under  indictment  for  the  misap- 
propriation of  public  funds  should  be  considered  as  a 
candidate  for  Senator  until  acquitted  by  a  jury. 

This  prosecution  was  a  political  blunder,  as  the  result 
proved.  Every  dollar  of  State  money  had  been  ac- 
counted for;  there  was  no  allegation  that  the  State 
funds  were  not  intact,  but  he  was  charged  as  technically 
guilty  for  having  State  funds  deposited  in  certain 
banks  whereby  he  could  obtain  loans  for  his  own 
individual  benefit.  With  Quay  indicted  in  the  Phila- 
delphia courts,  and  a  powerful  political  element 
demanding  his  conviction  and  disgrace,  as  well  as 
his  defeat  as  Senator,  the  Legislature  was  halted  in 
the  re-election  of  Quay. 

The  Senatorial  caucus  met  on  the  3d  of  January,  and 
was  attended  by  108  of  the  164  Republican  members. 
Over  40  Republicans  who  had  refused  to  attend  the 
caucus  held  a  meeting  on  the  following  morning,  and 
agreed  that  they  would  not  vote  for  Quay  until  the 
courts  had  settled  whether  he  was  innocent  or  guilty 
of  the  charges  against  him.  The  executive  committee 
of  the  anti-Quay  members  framed  an  address  to  the 
Republicans  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Democrats  nomi- 
nated George  A.  Jenks,  their  late  candidate  for  Gover- 
nor, for  Senator  over  Chauncey  F.  Black,  by  a  vote  of 
65  to  14  and  a  resolution  looking  to  fusion  with  the 


Old  Time  Notes 


anti-Quay  Republicans  was  defeated.  Quay  had  suffi- 
cient control  of  the  Democratic  leaders  to  prevent  the 
Democrats  from  uniting  with  the  Wanamaker  forces. 

The  first  ballot  for  Senator  was  taken  on  the  17th 
of  January,  when  the  senate  gave  Quay  2  7  votes  to  1 2 
for  Jenks  and  3  for  Dalzell,  with  i  each  for  Hull,  Charles 
Emory  Smith,  Erwin,  Stewart  and  Stone.  In  the 
house  Quay  received  85  votes  to  70  for  Jenks,  with  13 
for  Dalzell  and  33  scattering.  On  the  following  day  a 
joint  ballot  was  had  and  Quay  received  112,  Jenks  84 
and  52  Republican  votes  scattering.  The  Legislature 
was  required  to  ballot  in  joint  convention  daily  until 
the  election  of  a  Senator,  and  the  ballots  proceeded 
from  day  to  day  with  no  substantial  change.  On 
many  days  there  was  no  quorum  voting,  and  one  day, 
on  the  25th  of  March,  only  ten  votes  were  cast. 

But  for  Quay's  control  of  the  Democratic  leaders, 
Wanamaker  would  have  been  elected,  as  the  Demo- 
crats could  have  furnished  him  the  full  number  of  votes 
required  with  the  aid  of  his  Independent  followers ;  but 
although  Wanamaker 's  battle  had  given  many  of  the 
Democratic  members  their  election.  Quay  was  able  to 
hold  their  leaders  and  thus  prevent  the  success  of  his 
opponent.  I  saw  him  frequently  during  the  struggle, 
and  he  was  hopeful  of  success  in  some  way  until  Magee 
broke  away  from  him  a  short  time  before  the  final 
adjournment.  Magee  really  desired  Quay's  election 
and  did  not  then  wish  to  be  made  United  States  Senator 
himself,  but  hoped  to  succeed  Quay  six  years  later. 

I  heard  Quay  on  more  than  one  occasion  express  his 
purpose  to  throw  his  forces  to  Magee  and  elect  him 
Senator  whenever  it  became  entirely  clear  to  him  that 
he  could  not  succeed  himself.  He  doubtless  would  have 
preferred  Magee  if  he  had  accepted  the  contingency, 
but  he  never  was  willing  to  confess  that  he  was  defeated, 
and  a  short  time  before  the  final  adjournment  of  the 


Of  Pennsylvania 


605 


Legislature  Magee  informed  me  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  Quay's  election,  and  that  he  had  decided  on  the  fol- 
lowing Monday  to  vote  for  some  other  candidate,  who 
might  be  elected.  I  was  to  dine  that  evening  with 
Magee  and  some  others,  at  the  house  of  a  friend,  who 
was  warmly  attached  to  Quay,  and  I  informed  Quay 
that  Magee  was  about  to  leave  him  and  strongly  ad- 
vised him  to  withdraw  from  the  contest  and  to  confer 
with  Magee  at  once  on  the  question  of  electing  some 
compromise  candidate.  He  accompanied  me  to  the 
dinner,  although  not  an  invited  guest,  and  at  once 
retired  with  Magee  to  the  library,  where  they  were 
alone  for  a  considerable  time. 

Quay  insisted  that  he  was  not  finally  defeated,  and 
Magee  insisted  that  his  election  was  impossible.  In- 
stead of  agreeing,  they  simply  agreed  to  disagree,  and 
dined  and  spent  the  evening  pleasantly  together  with- 
out further  referring  to  the  subject.  Magee 's  defection 
made  Quay's  battle  an  utterly  hopeless  one,  and  extra- 
ordinary efforts  were  then  made  to  force  the  Democrats 
into  a  fusion.  Mass  meetings  were  held  in  Harrisburg 
and  in  Philadelphia  at  which  impassioned  speeches 
were  made  against  Quay's  election,  and  resolutions 
passed  declaring  that  no  man  under  arrest  for  con- 
spiracy to  use  the  State  moneys  should  be  elected  to 
the  Senate. 

The  anti-Quay  men  voted  for  Dalzell  most  of  the 
time.  On  April  4  they  gave  5 1  votes  to  Judge  Stewart, 
who  had  led  the  Independents  in  1882.  On  the  13th 
of  April  the  anti-Quay  Republicans  held  a  meeting 
and  addressed  a  letter  to  Senator  John  C.  Grady,  a 
leading  Quay  man,  suggesting  a  conference  to  reach  a 
compromise  candidate,  but  that  was  followed  by  a 
meeting  of  the  Quay  supporters,  to  whom  Quay  ad- 
dressed a  letter  appealing  to  them  to  stand  by  him, 
stating  that  "  to  temporize  with  those  persons  who  for 


6o6 


Old  Time  Notes 


three  months  have  prevented  the  election  of  a  Senator 
in  Pennsylvania  would  extricate  them  from  the  abyss 
into  which  they  have  plunged.  Instead  of  making 
their  treason  to  the  party  odious,  their  treason  would 
be  made  respectable,  and  treason  made  respectable 
would  become  fashionable."  Quay  thus  continued 
as  a  candidate,  receiving  a  decreased  vote,  and  the 
last  ballot  was  taken  on  the  19th  of  April,  without 
material  change  in  the  vote,  and  on  the  following  day 
the  Legislature  adjourned  finally. 

Quay's  trial  had  been  in  progress  for  a  week  or  more 
before  the  final  adjournment,  and  on  the  20th  of  April, 
the  morning  after  the  final  adjournment,  the  trial  was 
ended  by  his  acquittal.  It  was  one  of  the  notable 
trials  of  Philadelphia,  at  which  such  prominent  lawyers 
as  Wg^tson,  of  Pittsburg,  and  Shapley  and  Shields,  of 
Philadelphia,  conducted  the  defense,  while  Rothermel, 
then  just  inaugurated  as  district  attorney,  conducted 
the  prosecution,  exhibiting  a  measure  of  ability  and 
dignity  that  at  once  ranked  him  among  the  foremost 
members  of  the  bar  of  the  city. 

Within  an  hour  after  the  verdict  of  the  jury  was 
rendered  acquitting  Quay,  Governor  Stone  announced 
Quay's  appointment  to  fill  the  vacancy.  It  was  con- 
sidered by  many  that  the  Governor's  authority  to 
appoint  under  the  circumstances  was  more  than  doubt- 
ful, but  Quay  accepted  his  commission,  and  promptly 
applied  to  the  Senate  for  temporary  admission  as  his 
own  successor.  His  struggle  before  the  Senate  for 
admission,  and  for  the  re-election  that  he  accomplished 
two  years  later,  must  be  deferred  for  another  chapter. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


607 


CVL 

QUAY  RE-ELECTED  UNITED  STATES 
SENATOR. 

The  McCarrell  Bill  of  1899  and  the  Quay  Trial  —  Democrats  Divided  by 
Bryanism  —  A  Faction  of  Them  for  Quay  —  Quay  Appointed  Senator 
by  the  Governor,  but  the  Senate  Refused  to  Admit  Him  —  The 
Grounds  for  His  Exclusion  —  A  Memorable  Political  Controversy  — 
Senator  Hanna's  Position  —  A  Great  Humiliation  to  Quay  —  The 
State  Convention  and  the  Quay  Battle  in  1900  —  Wanamaker  in  State 
Politics  —  Overwhelming  Republican  Triumph  —  Quay  Re-elected  by 
the  Legislature  of  1901  —  A  Famous  Declaration  by  Him  —  Death 
Ends  His  Career  Before  His  Term  Expires. 

IN  addition  to  the  absorbing  question  of  the  elec- 
tion of  a  United  States  Senator  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  1899,  the  house  was  convulsed  for 
several  weeks  by  the  battle  over  what  was  known  as 
the  McCarrell  bill,  that  proposed  an  important  change 
in  the  criminal  jurisprudence  of  the  State.  In  the 
trial  of  important  cases  the  district  attorney  then 
possessed  the  right  to  stand  aside  jurors  without  peremp- 
tory challenge,  while  the  defendant  had  only  the  right 
of  limited  peremptory  challenge,  thus  giving  the  pros- 
ecution an  indefinite  right  to  challenge  beyond  that 
possessed  by  the  defendant.  Senator  McCarrell  pre- 
sented a  bill  repealing  that  feature  of  the  common 
law  in  criminal  trials,  and  giving  the  Commonwealth 
and  the  defendant  a  precisely  equal  nimiber  of  chal- 
lenges in  the  selection  of  a  jury. 

It  was  well  understood  that  the  measure  was  pro- 
posed for  the  benefit  of  Senator  Quay,  whose  trial  was 
to  come  on  very  soon  thereafter.  The  bill  passed  the 
senate,  but  most  of  the  Democrats  finally  united  with 


6o8 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  Independents  of  the  house,  and  the  bill  never 
reached  final  passage  in  that  body.  Various  earnest 
efforts  were  made  to  secure  its  passage,  but  when  it 
came  up  in  the  popular  branch  on  second  reading  on 
the  19th  of  February,  the  house  voted  to  postpone 
action  ur  '  il  the  21st  of  March  by  a  vote  of  93  to  92, 
with  SOT  ;iteen  Democrats  voting  with  the  minority. 
It  was  aSvi^omed  that  by  that  time  the  Quay  trial  would 
be  over.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Legislature 
of  1 90 1  passed  what  was  practically  the  McCarrell  bill. 

The  Democrats  of  the  State  were  greatly  dem_oralized, 
and  were  an  easy  prey  to  the  power  of  the  Republican 
State  organization.  While  the  Democratic  Legislators 
could  not  vote  directly  for  Quay  for  Senator  against 
the  Democratic  candidate,  there  were  more  than 
enough  of  them  actually  in  the  interest  of  Quay  to 
make  fusion  against  him  impossible.  An  earnest  effort 
vv^as  made  at  an  early  stage  of  the  contest  to  bring  the 
Democrats  into  the  support  of  Wanamaker,  who  could 
have  commanded  the  solid  vote  of  the  Independents, 
and  a  number  of  the  leading  Democrats  were  very  much 
interested  in  aiding  to  accomplish  it,  but  they  found, 
after  a  careful  canvass  of  their  forces,  that  if  the  Dem- 
ocrats abandoned  Jenks  and  accepted  Wanamaker 
as  their  candidate,  thus  leaving  the  Democrats  to  choose 
between  two  Republicans,  the  entire  Quay  contingent 
would  vote  directly  for  Quay  and  thus  secure  his  elec- 
tion. 

The  demoralization  of  Bryanism  told  fearfully  on 
the  integrity  and  vitality  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
State.  The  Democratic  State  convention  of  1896, 
that  met  for  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  National 
convention,  made  a  most  emphatic  deliverance  in  favor 
of  sound  money  by  declaring  that  the  gold  standard 
must  be  maintained  in  our  monetary  system.  After 
the  nomination  of  Bryan  and  the  adoption  of  the  free 


of  Pennsylvania 


609 


silver  platform,  the  same  convention,  consisting  of 
the  same  members,  that  v/as  reconvened  for  State  pur- 
poses, nearly  unanimously  adopted  a  resolution  against 
sound  money  and  in.  favor  of  the  free  coinage  of  silver. 
This  action  of  the  party  drove  a  number  of  the  ablest 
and  most  trusted  leaders  of  the  party  from  its  fellow- 
ship. It  was  this  demoralization  that  widened  and 
deepened  in  the  Democratic  ranks  that  enabled  Quay 
to  accomplish  his  re-election  in  the  Legislature  of  1901. 

The  old  Congress  had  expired  by  limitation  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1899.  Quay  had  no  opportunity  to 
present  his  commission  and  demand  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  until  the  session  of  the  new  Congress  met. 
The  question  of  admitting  Senators  by  appointment 
of  the  Governors  of  the  States  on  commissions  which 
had  more  or  less  evidence  of  irregularity,  had  been 
considered  several  times  in  the  Senate,  and  had  been 
apparently  decided  both  for  and  against  the  right  of 
Quay  to  be  admitted.  In  other  words,  it  seemed  that 
the  Senate  had  been  influenced  rather  by  its  desire  for 
the  admission  or  rejection  of  a  particular  Senator  than 
by  any  very  sacred  regard  for  the  constitutional  pro- 
visions affecting  the  case. 

Quay  was  known  to  be  personally  very  popular  in 
the  Senate,  not  only  with  most  of  the  leaders  of  his 
own  party,  but  also  with  a  number  of  the  prominent 
Democratic  leaders.  His  most  devoted  personal  friend 
in  the  body  was  Senator  Vest  of  Missouri,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  Democratic  leaders.  They  were  almost 
inseparable,  and  no  one  other  man  so  often  sat  with 
Quay  at  his  dinner  table.  Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances there  is  little  doubt  that  Vest  would  have  taken 
the  lead  in  favor  of  Quay's  admission,  and  thus  enabled 
him  to  win  out  in  his  fight,  but,  unfortunately,  Senator 
Vest  had  made  a  most  exhaustive,  and  indeed  an  unan- 
swerable, speech  in  a  former  contested  case,  where  a 

a— 39 


6io 


Old  Time  Notes 


seat  was  claimed  by  appointment,  and  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  him  to  do  otherwise  than  vote  against  Quay's 
admission. 

I  personally  know  that  it  was  one  of  the  sorest 
regrets  of  his  public  career  that  he  could  not  aid  Quay. 
His  argument  had  been  accepted  by  the  Senate  as  a 
clear  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  and  it  told 
just  as  effectively  against  Quay  as  if  it  had  been 
delivered  in  his  own  case.  While  Senator  Vest  could 
not  support  Quay,  he  rendered  much  service  to  Quay's 
cause  by  helping  other  Democrats  to  get  into  line  on 
the  Quay  side. 

When  Quay  first  presented  his  commission  every- 
thing seemed  to  point  to  his  admission.  It  was  under- 
stood that  Hanna  was  in  his  favor;  Hanna  had  cer- 
tainly so  expressed  himself,  and  it  was  not  doubted 
that  Quay  would  win  by  a  liberal  majority.  I  did  not 
believe  that  the  Governor  had  any  right  under  the 
Constitution  to  make  the  appointment,  and  editorially 
protested  against  Quay's  commission.  The  National 
Constitution  authorized  the  Governor  to  appoint 
Senators  to  fill  vacancies  occurring  during  the  recess 
of  the  Legislature,  but  this  vacancy  had  occurred  on 
the  4th  of  March  when  the  Legislature  was  in  session, 
and  continued  in  session  for  fifty  days  thereafter. 
The  command  of  the  Constitution,  then,  was  for  the  Gov- 
ernor to  reconvene  the  Legislature,  but  that  was  sum- 
marily abandoned  as  it  was  believed  that  Quay  would 
be  admitted  to  the  Senate,  and  that  he  would  be  able 
to  fight  this  battle  for  re-election  in  the  next  Legis- 
lature on  the  vantage  ground  of  being  in  possession  of 
the  office. 

I  saw  President  McKinley  two  weeks  before  the  final 
vote  was  taken  on  Quay's  admission,  and  was  surprised 
when  he  informed  me  that  Quay  would  certainly  be 
admitted  to  the  Senate.    He  spoke  most  kindly  of 


Of  Pennsylvania 


6ii 


Quay,  and  complained  that  the  prominent  RepubH- 
cans  of  the  State  had  appealed  to  him  to  deny  Quay  a 
voice  in  the  disposal  of  Pennsylvania  patronage.  He 
told  me  that  he  had  answered  such  a  complaint  from  a 
committee  a  few  days  before  by  reminding  them  that 
the  President  could  only  recognize  the  action  of  the 
party  organization  of  the  State,  and  he  reminded  them 
that  only  a  year  before  Ohio  had  nominated  McKinley 
for  President  and  Pennsylvania  had  nominated  Quay 
for  the  same  office,  and  that  a  large  majority  of  the 
Republican  members  of  the  Legislature  had  earnestly 
supported  his  re-election  to  the  Senate.  Knowing  the 
close  relations  between  the  President  and  Senator 
Hanna,  I  did  not  doubt  that  Hanna  would  be  in  the 
forefront  in  support  of  Quay,  but  to  the  utter  surprise 
of  Quay  and  his  friends  Hanna  was  absent  from  the 
Senate  when  the  vote  was  taken,  and  Senator  Depew, 
who  was  friendly  to  Quay,  declined  to  vote,  announcing 
that  he  had  paired  with  Senator  Hanna  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  question. 

Why  Hanna  had  changed  his  position  I  have  never 
known,  and  I  believe  that  Quay  never  fully  understood 
the  cause  of  the  change.  It  was  defection  from  Quay 
by  Hanna  that  made  Quay  the  opponent  of  Hanna  in 
his  National  leadership,  and  its  far-reaching  results 
may  be  appreciated  when  I  state  that  it  was  that  de- 
sertion of  Quay  by  Hanna  that  made  Quay,  in  the 
National  convention  of  1900,  unite  with  Senator  Piatt, 
of  New  York,  who  had  a  like  grievance  against  Hanna, 
to  defeat  the  Administration  programme  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  a  candidate  for  Vice-President.  Quay  had 
no  special  love  for  Roosevelt,  who  was  a  civil  service 
reformer  and  generally  on  a  politically  antagonistic 
line  to  Quay,  but  the  Administration  was  in  favor  of  the 
nomination  of  either  Senator  Allison  or  Mr.  Bliss,  of 
New  York,  for  Vice-President,  as  Hanna  explained  to 


6l2 


Old  Time  Notes 


me  himself,  just  before  the  convention  met,  because  it 
was  necessary  to  have  an  able  and  conservative  candi- 
date on  the  ticket  with  McKinley. 

I  well  remember  Hanna's  expression  when  he  spoke 
of  the  necessity  of  nominating  a  man  for  Vice-President 
who  comm.anded  the  confidence  of  the  business  inter- 
ests of  the  country.    Shrugging  his  shoulders,  he  said : 

"  You  know  Presidents  die  sometimes,  and  where  the  

would  we  be  if  Roosevelt  should  become  President  of 
the  United  States."  I  saw  him  in  Washington  a  few 
months  after  Roosevelt  had  become  President,  and 
reminded  him  of  the  remark  to  me  about  Roosevelt  at 
the  time  of  the  Philadelphia  convention.  He  then 
told  me  that  he  would  give  me  the  sequel  of  that  con- 
versation. In  a  letter  that  he  wrote  to  McKinley  on 
the  evening  after  the  ticket  had  been  completed  and 
Roosevelt  made  the  candidate  for  the  second  place,  he 
said  to  McKinley:  We  have  done  the  best  we  could; 
it  is  now  up  to  you  to  live."  It  was  the  desertion  of 
Quay  by  Hanna  in  the  contest  for  Quay's  admission  to 
the  Senate  that  made  Roosevelt  the  nominee  for  Vice- 
President  against  his  own  earnest  protest,  and  thus 
made  him  President  of  the  United  States.  Quay  lost 
his  battle  for  the  Senatorial  seat  on  the  Governor's 
commission  by  the  narrowest  margin,  the  vote  being 
33  to  31,  and  Hanna's  influence  and  vote  alone 
defeated  him. 

It  was  a  humiliating  defeat  for  Quay,  but  he  was  ever 
most  heroic  when  threatened  with  the  gravest  perils. 
He  decided  to  carry  his  cause  to  the  people  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  in  the  State  convention  of  the  party  that 
met  on  the  24th  of  August  he  was  endorsed  in  the 
strongest  terms.  The  platform  declared :  "  The  Repub- 
lican party  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  her  senior  United 
States  Senator,  Matthew  Stanley  Quay,  who  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  stood  in  the  forefront 


Of  Pennsylvania 


613 


of  the  battle  for  Republican  supremacy,"  and  de- 
nounced the  action  of  the  Senate  for  denying  Pennsyl- 
vania full  representation  in  the  body.  Colonel  Bar- 
nett,  of  Washington,  was  nominated  for  State  treasurer, 
and  J.  Hay  Brown,  of  Lancaster,  for  judge  of  the 
supreme  court.  The  Democrats  nominated  Repre- 
sentative Creasey  for  State  treasurer,  and  President 
Judge  Mestrezat,  of  Fayette,  for  supreme  judge.  The 
Democrats  were  deficient  in  organization  and  utterly 
hopeless  of  success,  and  after  a  quiet  and  uneventful 
campaign  the  Republican  ticket  was  elected  by  over 
100,000  majority.  There  were  two  vacancies  on  the 
supreme  court,  and  each  voter  could  vote  for  but  one 
candidate  as  directed  by  the  constitution,  resulting 
in  the  election  of  both  Brown  and  Mestrezat  as  the 
supreme  court  judges. 

The  year  1900  was  accepted  alike  by  Quay  and  his 
opponents  as  presenting  the  direct  issue  of  Quay's  con- 
tinued mastery  or  defeat.  Quay's  control  of  the  party 
organization  was  complete,  and  he  called  the  State 
convention  to  meet  as  early  as  the  5  th  of  April  to  form 
his  line  of  battle.  The  Republican  platform  com- 
mended Governor  Stone  for  having  appointed  Senator 
Quay,  and  denounced  the  United  States  Senate  for 
having  refused  his  admission  and  thus  denied  Penn- 
sylvania full  representation.  It  also  specially  com- 
mended General  Elkin  for  his  "masterly  and  logical 
argument  before  the  Elections  committee  of  the  United 
States  Senate"  defending  the  appointment  of  Quay. 

The  following  is  the  precise  text  of  the  expression  of 
the  convention  on  Quay  himself:  ''We  express  our 
confidence  in  Senator  Quay's  leadership,  and  we  believe 
in  his  political  and  personal  integrity.  A  great  wrong 
has  been  done  him  which  the  people  will  right  at  the 
proper  time,  and  therefore  we  urge  and  insist  that  the 
Hon.  Matthew  S.  Quay  shall  be  a  candidate  for  re- 


6i4  Old  Time  Notes 

election  to  the  United  States  Senate,  in  which  he  has  so 
long  served  the  people  with  such  distinguished  ability 
and  fidelity,  and  to  this  end  we  pledge  him  our  hearty 
and  cordial  support." 

Senator  Hardenbergh  was  nominated  for  auditor 
general  and  Grow  was  re-nominated  for  Congressman- 
at-Large,  with  Mr.  Foerderer,  of  Philadelphia,  as  his 
colleague.  The  Democrats  nominated  P.  Gray  Meek 
for  auditor  general  and  Mr.  Grimm  and  Mr.  Edwards 
for  Congressmen-at-Large.  There  was  practically  no 
fight  made  by  either  side  for  the  respective  National 
tickets,  as  it  was  accepted  by  all  that  McKinley  wotild 
carry  the  State  by  an  increased  majority,  but  a  des- 
perate battle  was  made,  with  Wanamaker  in  the  lead, 
for  the  election  of  anti-Quay  senators  and  representa- 
tives. Quay  for  the  first  time  in  his  political  career 
made  a  public  canvass  of  the  State,  and  delivered  a 
series  of  speeches  of  singular  pungency  on  the  political 
conditions  of  the  State,  and  often  embellished  them 
with  unusual  classic  elegance. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  was  on  the  stump,  and  with  his 
friends  made  exhaustive  efforts  to  make  fusion  com- 
binations with  the  Democrats  for  the  Legislative  candi- 
dates. Wanamaker,  like  Quay,  was  nothing  if  not 
heroic.  He  was  as  fearless  as  he  was  able  in  expression, 
and  well  proved  his  right  to  rank  not  only  as  one  of  the 
ablest  of  our  political  disputants,  but  as  one  of  the  most 
skillful  and  popular  orators.  He  defined  his  position 
in  an  address  at  Pottstown  as  follows:  "A  Legislature 
must  be  elected  overwhelmingly  hostile  to  the  Machine 
and  all  its  works,  and  to  its  whole  corrupt  and  sinister 
spirit,  in  order  that  the  present  protection  to  fraud  at 
the  polls  shall  be  swept  away  by  an  act  enforcing  true 
ballot  reform." 

Quay  spoke  at  Phoenixville  a  few  days  after  the 
Wanamaker  deliverance  at  Pottstown,  in  which  he  took 


Of  Pennsylvania 


615 


Up  the  candidates  and  supporters  of  the  fusion  Legis- 
lative ticket  in  Chester  County,  and  after  stating  that 
the  friends  of  good  government  had  raised  a  large 
amount  of  money  to  expend  in  the  Legislative  contests 
he  said:  One  of  the  candidates  upon  the  fusion  ticket 
is  the  custodian  and  dispenser  of  the  fund  here,  and  his 
recent  visits  to  Philadelphia  have  a  history.  In  the 
cause  of  good  government  they  will  bribe  piously,  they 
will  bribe  prayerfully ;  you  can  scarcely  say  them  nay. 
Take  their  money,  lay  it  carefully  out  of  reach  until 
after  the  election,  then  there  are  laudable  charities  at 
hand  to  the  use  of  which  it  can  be  properly  donated,  and 
you  can  consider  the  propriety  of  mentioning  the 
donors." 

Quay's  last  speech  in  that  campaign  was  delivered  in 
Philadelphia,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  in  which 
he  paid  his  respects  to  the  "  Press,"  The  '"Times,"  the 
"Record,"  the  "Ledger"  and  the  "Telegraph,"  all  of 
which  were  opposed  to  his  political  mastery.  He  said : 
"  I  have  no  desire  to  flutter  the  cote  of  these  soiled 
doves  of  Pennsylvania  journalism.  They  wire  in  and 
wire  out  at  the  heels  of  their  charmer,  everywhere 
slobbering  venom  in  their  slot. "  He  had  been  severely 
criticised  by  those  journals,  and  he  withheld  his  reply 
to  them  until  the  battle  was  practically  ended. 

The  Republican  victory  in  the  State  was  the  greatest 
that  had  ever  been  achieved.  McKinley's  plurality 
was  288,433,  "the  entire  Republican  State  ticket 
was  elected  by  some  20,000  less.  Notwithstanding 
the  organized  fusion  movement  in  various  sections  of 
the  State,  the  Republicans  had  the  largest  majority  in 
the  new  Legislature  that  had  ever  been  chosen.  The 
senate  had  37  Republicans  to  13  Democrats,  and  the 
house  161  Republicans  to  49  Democrats  and  4  Republi- 
can fusionists,  but  when  the  Legislature  met  and  Quay 


6i6 


Old  Time  Notes 


lined  up  the  supporters  of  his  re-election  to  the  Senate 
he  found  himself  without  a  majority. 

The  Republican  Senatorial  caucus  was  attended  by 
113  members,  being  four  short  of  a  majority  in  joint 
assembly.  Quay  was  nominated,  receiving  119  votes 
to  two  for  John  Dalzell  and  two  for  John  Stewart. 
Quay  said  that  without  the  control  of  the  organization 
of  the  house  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  succeed  in 
the  Senatorial  contest.  Representative  Marshall  was 
nominated  by  the  Quay  forces  in  the  Republican  caucus 
for  speaker,  but  a  fusion  was  formed  between  the  Demo- 
crats and  Independents  in  support  of  General  Koontz, 
of  Somerset,  and  but  for  Quay's  control  of  demoralized 
Democrats,  Koontz  would  have  been  elected  and  Quay 
defeated. 

The  Democratic  leaders  made  an  earnest  effort  to 
hold  their  forces,  but  so  many  Democrats  were  rotten 
at  the  core  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  prevent 
desertions.  Marshall,  Quay's  candidate  for  speaker, 
was  elected  by  one  majority,  and  that  was  accom- 
plished by  one  Democrat  voting  directly  for  Marshall 
and  several  withholding  their  votes  without  pairs. 
Quay  thus  had  the  control  of  the  committees  and  the 
power  of  the  house,  and  it  was  vv^ielded  by  Marshall  with 
the  single  purpose  of  aiding  Quay's  election. 

On  the  15th  of  January  Quay  was  elected  for  the 
unexpired  term  of  four  years  in  the  Senate,  receiving 
26  votes  in  the  Senate,  with  12  for  Guffey,  Democrat; 

10  for  Dalzell  and  one  each  for  Charles  Emory  Smith 
and  George  E.  Huff,  Independents.  In  the  house 
Quay  received  104  votes  to  44  for  Guffey,  24  for  Dalzell, 

1 1  for  Smith,  6  for  Huff,  3  for  Stewart  and  one  each  for 
McCormack,  McConway,  Harris,  Tubbs,  Olmstead  and 
Swallow,  with  five  not  voting.  Quay's  election  was 
accomplished  by  one  Democratic- Populist  senator  and 
one  Democratic  representative  voting  directly  for  him, 


of  Pennsylvania 


617 


and  with  two  Democratic  representatives  being  absent 
without  pairs.  It  was  a  most  desperate  struggle,  and 
only  one  of  Quay's  masterly  political  ingenuity  and 
skillful  control  of  Democrats  of  easy  virtue  could  have 
won  out  in  the  fight. 

Thus  ended  Quay's  last  great  battle,  when  he  was  the 
central  figure  of  the  contest,  and  as  he  had  regained  his 
position  in  the  Senate  for  a  four  year  term,  and  publicly 
announced  his  purpose  not  again  to  be  a  candidate  for 
any  office,  the  factional  feeling  that  had  harassed  him 
for  many  years  gradually  perished. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  several  months  after  his  election, 
he  was  invited  to  address  the  State  League  of  Republi- 
can Clubs  in  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Music,  and 
his  speech  on  that  occasion  will  be  cherished  as  a  classic. 
The  opening  sentence  was:  ''At  three  score  years  and 
ten  the  world  grows  lonely ;  through  wilderness  almost 
desolate  the  stream  of  life  lies  darkly  toward  the 
eternal  gulf, ' '  and  that  was  followed  by  this  utterance : 
"  My  political  race  is  run.  It  is  not  to  be  understood 
that  God's  sword  is  drawn  immediately  against  my 
life,  or  that  my  seat  in  the  Senate  is  to  be  peremptorily 
vacated,  but  that  with  the  subscription  of  my  official 
oath  on  the  i8th  of  January  my  connection  with  the 
serious  labors  and  responsibilities  of  active  politics 
ceases,  excepting  in  so  far  as  I  may  be  committed  to 
certain  measures  pending  in  the  present  Legislature. 
I  will  never  again  be  a  candidate  for  or  accept  any 
official  position.  I  have  many  friends  to  remember; 
I  have  no  enemies  to  punish.  In  this  regard  I  put  aside 
the  past." 

After  referring  to  the  general  political  conditions  of 
the  country,  he  spoke  of  the  necessity  of  expansion,  and 
traced  the  history  of  nations  in  the  development  of  our 
Christian  civilization  with  a  beauty  of  diction  and  a 
measure  of  historic  illustration  that  would  embellish 


6i8 


Old  Time  Notes 


the  oration  of  an  Everett.  He  closed  by  quoting  the 
elder  Cato  in  the  Senate  of  the  Roman  Republic.  He 
said:  "  Think  not  that  Rome  is  founded  alone  upon  her 
seven  hills  and  her  ponderous  and  shining  marbles.  No, 
but  upon  the  honest  purpose,  brave  hearts  and  strong 
arms  of  her  citizens.  Think  not  that,  by  mere  force 
of  arms  alone,  this  Republic  attained  its  present  pitch 
of  greatness.  No,  but  by  things  of  a  very  different 
nature.  Industry  and  discipline  at  home,  abstinence 
and  justice  abroad,  a  disinterested  spirit  in  counsels, 
unblinded  by  passion  and  unbiased  by  pleasure. ' '  To 
which  Quay  added:  "  Thus  spoke  the  elder  Cato  in  the 
Roman  Senate,  and  his  voice  seems  wafted  down  the 
centuries  for  our  guidance." 

Beyond  Quay's  sudden  assertion  of  political  authority 
in  defeating  the  present  Justice  Elkin  for  the  nomina- 
tion for  Governor  in  1902,  and  making  Judge  Penny- 
packer  the  Republican  candidate.  Quay's  political 
career  was  uneventful  from  the  time  he  re-entered  the 
Senate  until  his  death.  His  Senatorial  term  expired 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1905,  and  such  were  political  con- 
ditions at  the  time  he  fell  in  the  race  that  he  would  cer- 
tainly have  been  re-elected  to  the  Senate  without  a 
contest  had  he  been  living  when  the  choice  was  made. 
While  he  had  made  public  announcement  several  years 
before  that  under  no  circumstances  would  he  be  a  can- 
didate for,  or  accept,  political  position,  it  was  generally 
understood  that  he  would  be  elected  to  succeed  him- 
self, and  then  probably  resign  to  give  place  to  some 
friend  of  his  own  selection.  At  no  time  in  his  long  and 
fretting  political  career  was  his  party  more  entirely  in 
harmony  with  him  than  in  1904,  but  his  health  was 
sadly  broken,  and  he  evidently  realized  that  his  life 
work  was  finished. 

After  failing  to  regain  strength  in  the  South  and  at 
the  seashore,  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Beaver,  to  die 


of  Pennsylvania 


619 


among  his  loved  ones  and  his  loving  neighbors.  His 
favorite  resort  was  his  library,  where  he  could  indulge 
his  love  of  literature  and  art,  and  pore  over  the  classics 
which  had  been  largely  the  study  of  his  life.  A  short 
time  before  his  death,  knowing  that  the  end  was  near, 
he  had  himself  borne  from  his  sick  room  to  pay  a  last 
visit  to  the  old-time  friends  in  books  and  art  which 
filled  his  library,  and  looking  out  upon  the  bright  spring 
day  that  was  garlanding  the  earth  with  beauty  and 
fragrance  and  the  promise  of  future  plenty,  he  said: 
''It  is  very  beautiful;  it  is  very  beautiful."  A  few 
hours  thereafter  the  trained  lightning  announced  to 
every  section  of  the  country  that  Matthew  Stanley  Quay 
was  dead,  and  friend  and  foe  bowed  regretfully  over 
the  grave  of  Pennsylvania's  ablest  and  most  chival- 
rous political  gladiator. 


620 


Old  Time  Notes 


CVIL 

REPUBLICAN  REVOLT  IN  1901. 

Political  Conditions  in  Philadelphia  Started  an  Aggressive  Revolt  — 
Rothermel  Rejected  by  the  Party  Leaders  Because  Fugitives,  Charged 
With  Political  Crimes,  Could  Not  Return  While  he  Prosecuted  — 
Formation  of  the  Union  Party  —  Judge  Yerkes,  Democratic  Candidate 
for  Supreme  Judge,  Endorsed  by  the  Union  Republicans,  and  Repre- 
sentative Coray  Nominated  for  State  Treasurer  —  The  Violent  Con- 
test in  the  City  —  Colossal  Frauds  Practised  in  Philadelphia  —  Rother- 
mel Returned  as  Defeated  —  Potter  and  Harris  Elected  by  a  Large 
Majority  —  The  Revolt  of  1901  Made  Quay  Crucify  Attorney  General 
Elkin  and  Nominate  Pennypacker  for  Governor. 

REPUBLICAN  politics  in  Pennsylvania  had  been 
decidedly  cyclonic  for  several  years  before  1901, 
and  there  was  little  promise  of  Republican 
harmony  when  the  politicians  began  their  movements 
in  the  beginning  of  that  year.  Quay  had  won  out  in 
his  re-election  to  the  Senate  by  a  very  violent  manipu- 
lation of  the  Democrats  in  the  Legislature  of  that  year, 
and  there  was  a  large  measure  of  unrest  in  most  sections 
of  the  State.  Two  State  offices  were  to  be  filled — 
supreme  judge  and  State  treasurer — and  the  Republi- 
cans nominated  the  present  Justice  Porter,  who  was 
then  serving  by  appointment,  for  supreme  judge,  and 
Harris  for  State  treasurer.  Both  of  these  candidates 
possessed  high  character  and  qualifications  for  their 
respective  positions,  and  while  there  might  have  been 
some  Republican  dissatisfaction  here  and  there  through- 
out the  State,  there  would  have  been  practically  no 
contest  for  the  State  offices  if  it  had  been  a  square 
battle  between  the  Democrats  and  the  Republicans. 
Peculiar  political  conditions  in  Philadelphia  started 


of  Pennsylvania 


621 


the  revolt  of  1901,  as  like  conditions  in  Philadelphia 
started  the  revolution  of  1905.  P.  F.  Rothermel,  a 
man  of  high  character  and  legal  attainments,  was  urged 
to  accept  the  nomination  for  district  attorney.  That 
position  had  been  filled  by  such  eminent  prosecutors 
as  Reed,  Cassidy,  Mann,  Sheppard,  Hagert  and  Gra- 
ham, and  it  was  deemed  a  political  necessity  not  to 
lower  the  standard  of  the  public  prosecutors.  Mr. 
Rothermel,  after  much  hesitation,  reluctantly  accepted 
the  nomination  and  was  elected  by  a  large  majority. 
His  first  important  case  in  the  criminal  courts  was  the 
trial  of  Senator  Quay,  which  he  conducted  with  mas- 
terly ability  and  dignity  and  he  proved  that  in  the 
discharge  of  his  official  duties  he  was  ever  faithful  to 
his  high  trust. 

Political  complications,  involving  criminal  methods, 
arose  which  made  Rothermel  unacceptable  as  district 
attorney.  There  were  fugitives  from  justice,  charged 
with  political  crimes,  who  could  not  return  for  trial 
while  Rothermel  was  the  public  prosecutor,  and  a 
change  in  that  office  was  an  imperative  political  neces- 
sity. It  was  the  decision  of  the  leaders  to  overthrow 
Rothermel  that  led  to  the  revolt  in  Philadelphia  in 
1 90 1,  that  extended  into  different  sections  throughout 
the  State.  The  more  violent  of  the  anti-Quay  element 
were  ready  for  rebellion  against  the  State  ticket,  and 
the  overthrow  of  Rothermel  in  Philadelphia  aroused  the 
people  to  aggressive  revolutionary  action.  He  was 
nominated  by  an  independent  mass  meeting  that 
adopted  the  name  of  the  Union  Party,  and  that  led  to 
the  Union  State  convention  at  which  Attorney  General 
McCormick,  of  the  Hastings  administration,  delivered 
the  chief  speech  urging  the  support  of  Harman  Yerkes, 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  supreme  judge,  and 
Representative  Coray,  the  Independent  Republican 
candidate  for  State  treasurer. 


622 


Old  Time  Notes 


Potter  had  been  appointed  by  Governor  Stone,  his 
law  partner,  and  was  not  widely  known  throughout  the 
State,  although  occupying  a  high  position  at  the  Pitts- 
burg Bar,  and  Yerkes  was  well  known  in  the  State, 
having  served  two  terms  in  the  senate,  where  he  was 
recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Democratic  lead- 
ers, and  had  been  for  nearly  twenty  years  judge  of  the 
Bucks  County  court.  The  Democratic  organization  of 
the  city  was  under  control  of  the  Republican  leaders 
and  refused  to  accept  Rothermel  as  its  candidate. 
Only  seven  thousand  votes  were  cast  for  the  straight 
Democratic  candidate,  but  most  of  the  followers  of  the 
Democratic  organization  voted  directly  for  Weaver, 
the  Republican  nominee.  The  contest  was  one  of 
unusual  activity  and  bitterness,  and  as  both  of  the 
political  organizations  of  the  city,  Republican  and 
Democratic,  were  practically  supporting  the  same  cause, 
there  was  little  or  no  restraint  upon  fraud,  and  the  most 
colossal  frauds  ever  practised  in  Philadelphia  were 
exhibited  in  the  returns.  Rothermel  and  Yerkes  were 
returned  as  defeated  in  the  city  by  thirty-five  to  forty 
thousand  majorities.  The  chief  battle  was  made 
against  Rothermel,  and  the  conclusive  evidence  of 
fraud  was  shown  by  larger  majorities  returned  against 
him,  in  some  instances,  than  there  were  legal  voters  in 
the  ward.  That  he  was  re-elected  district  attorney  by 
the  honest  vote  is  not  disputed  by  the  intelligent,  fair- 
minded  men  in  the  city.  A  contest  would  have  in- 
volved enormous  labor  and  expenditure  and  was  not 
attempted. 

Judge  Potter  developed  extraordinary  personal 
strength  in  Pittsburg  and  the  western  counties  of  the 
State,  where  he  was  known.  He  carried  Allegheny  by 
nearly  twenty  thousand  majority  and  nearly  all  of  the 
western  and  northwestern  Republican  counties  of  the 
State  gave  him  their  full  off  year  majorities.    The  per- 


of  Pennsylvania 


623 


sonal  strength  of  Judge  Yerkes  was  also  greatly  felt  in 
Philadelphia  and  in  his  own  home  counties  of  Bucks 
and  Montgomery,  where  he  was  given  nearly  five  thou- 
sand majority,  The  only  other  counties  seriously 
affected  by  the  Republican  revolt  were  Chester,  where 
the  Republican  majority  was  practically  vviped  out, 
and  the  anthracite  region,  where  Lackawanna  gave  four 
thousand  for  the  Union  ticket,  Luzerne  twelve  thou- 
sand, and  Schuylkill  three  thousand.  Representa- 
tive Coray  was  the  Union  candidate  for  State  treasurer, 
and  represented  the  anthracite  interests  in  the  Legis- 
lature. The  Democratic  counties,  outside  of  the 
anthracite  region,  as  a  rule,  gave  no  more  than  the 
usual  ofE  year  majorities,  and  the  result  was  the  election 
of  Potter  and  Harris  by  large  majorities,  but  the  battle 
left  the  vital  embers  of  revolution  in  Philadelphia 
which,  four  years  later,  led  to  the  hurricane  of  disaster 
that  overwhelmed  the  organization  leaders  in  both 
city  and  State. 

It  was  this  admonition  that  made  Quay  crucify 
Attorney  General  Elkin,  who  was  the  generally  ac- 
cepted candidate  for  Governor  and  who  had  won 
great  distinction  by  his  able  defense,  before  a  com- 
mittee of  the  United  States  Senate,  of  Quay's  right  to 
a  seat  by  appointment  from  Governor  Stone.  Quay 
was  not  dissatisfied  or  distrustful  of  Elkin,  but  he 
felt  that  it  was  necessary  to  place  a  man  at  the  head 
of  the  Republican  ticket  for  Governor  in  1902  whose 
high  character  and  creditable  discharge  of  judicial 
duties  would  disarm  the  disaffected  elements  of  the 
State.  Quay's  decision  to  change  the  nomination  of 
Governor  was  not  reached  until  Elkin  had  practically 
a  majority  of  the  delegates  in  his  favor. 

Along  with  several  other  gentlemen,  I  dined  with 
Quay  in  Philadelphia  on  the  night  that  he  had  his  ap- 
pointment with  Attorney  General  Elkin  to  advise  El- 


624 


Old  Time  Notes 


kin  to  withdraw  from  the  Gubernatorial  contest. 
When  the  party  had  reached  cigars,  after  the  dinner 
was  served,  Quay  left  and  stated  the  mission  upon 
which  he  was  going.  He  returned  later  in  the  even- 
ing greatly  distressed,  as  he  had  failed  to  convince  El- 
kin  of  the  propriety  of  withdrawing,  but  he  was  reso- 
lute in  his  purpose  to  change  the  candidate  for  Gover- 
nor, and  by  an  exhibition  of  his  most  heroic  political 
methods  he  faced  a  convention  that  was  positively 
committed  to  the  nomination  of  Elkin,  and  accom- 
plished the  nomination  of  Pennypacker.  As  Penny- 
packer  was  invulnerable,  he  thus  weakened  oppo- 
sition to  Quay's  rule  and  postponed  aggressive  ac- 
tion, but  it  was  delayed  only  for  a  few  years,  and  when 
its  final  culmination  came  in  the  overwhelming  defeat 
of  the  party  in  1905,  Quay  slept  the  dreamless  sleep  of 
the  dead. 


Of  Pennsylvania 


625 


CVIIL 

AFTER  QUAY  THE  DELUGE. 

Quay  Died  Just  in  the  Omnipotence  of  His  Political  Power — His  Death 
Developed  Antagonistic  Party  Elements — The  Struggle  for  United 
States  Senator — Offered  to  Ex-Senator  Cameron,  Who  Suggested 
Attorney  General  Knox — All  finally  Agreed  to  Support  Knox,  and 
the  Governor  Withheld  Proclamation  for  Extra  Session — Knox 
First  Appointed  and  Then  Elected  by  Unanimous  Republican  Vote — 
Revolution  Developed  in  Philadelphia — Estrangement  of  Mayor 
and  Party  Leaders — Independent  Ticket  Elected  in  the  City — Dem- 
ocratic State  Treasurer  Elected  by  Over  Eighty-Eight  Thousand — 
Comparative  Vote  of  1904  and  1905 — Justice  Stewart  Received  a 
Unanimous  Vote. 

a  \  FTER  me  the  deluge"  might  well  have  been 
U\  uttered  by  Senator  Quay  before  his  death, 
could  he  have  had  any  conception  of  the 
political  disruption  and  revolution  which  were  to 
follow,  but  when  he  looked  out  upon  the  setting 
sun  from  the  library  to  which  he  was  borne  for  the 
last  time  to  gaze  upon  the  literary  and  art  treasures 
he  so  greatly  loved,  there  was  not  a  cloud  upon  the 
Republican  horizon.  Looking  over  his  political 
work,  as  it  then  appeared,  he  could  have  assumed 
that  he  and  his  organization  had  finally  reached 
omnipotence  without  peril  from  internal  or  external 
political  foes.  His  party  was  thoroughly  united  in 
every  section  of  the  country  on  its  National  candi- 
date and  policy,  and  the  formidable  enemies  he 
had  encountered  in  his  many  conflicts  of  the  past 
were  then  unseen  and  unfelt  in  the  political  movements 
of  the  State.  Had  he  lived  until  the  meeting  of  the 
Legislature  of  1905,  he  would  have  been  re-elected 
United  States  Senator,  regardless  of  his  fixed  resolve 


a — 40 


626 


Old  Time  Notes 


to  retire  from  public  life  because  of  his  hopelessly 
broken  health.  He  would  have  accepted  the  unani- 
mous and  generally  very  hearty  support  of  his  party 
for  another  Senatorial  election,  but  would  certainly 
have  resigned  soon  after  qualifying  in  the  special  session 
of  the  Senate  in  March,  1905,  while  the  Legislature 
was  yet  in  session,  and  dictated  the  election  of  his 
successor. 

The  death  of  Quay  in  the  early  summer  of  1904 
brought  to  the  sirrface  various  antagonistic  elements 
of  the  party,  which  were  not  visible  on  the  surface 
while  Quay  continued  as  the  omnipotent  Republican 
leader  of  the  State.  Half  a  score  of  candidates  speedily 
developed  to  contest  ,the  vacant  seat  in  the  Senate, 
and  many  earnest  but  disagreeing  conferences  were 
held  in  Pittsburg,  Harrisburg  and  Philadelphia  to 
bring  about  harmonious  action  on  the  Senatorship. 
The  plain  mandate  of  the  Constitution  required  the 
Governor  to  summon  an  extra  session  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  choose  a  Senator,  and  had  the  conditions  been 
ordinary,  Governor  Pennypacker  would  doubtless  have 
performed  that  duty.  The  Senatorship  was  sought 
by  many,  and  the  various  conferences  held,  looking  to 
harmony,  gave  no  promise  of  unity  of  action,  and  for 
a  time  seriously  threatened  disruption.  It  is  an  open 
secret  that  after  many  unsuccessful  efforts  had  been 
made  to  reach  an  agreement  on  the  Senatorship,  the 
leaders,  who  were  then  most  potent  in  the  selection 
of  a  Senator,  summoned  Ex-Senator  J .  Donald  Cameron 
and  asked  him  to  accept  the  position,  but  he  peremp- 
torily declined  it.  Attorney  General  Philander  C. 
Knox,  then  a  resident  of  Pittsburg,  had  not  been 
aggressive  in  politics  and  was  devoted  to  his  profession, 
in  which  he  had  attained  distinction.    Cameron  sug- 


Of  Pennsylvania 


627 


gested  Attorney  General  Knox  for  the  Senator  ship, 
and  as  Knox  was  free  from  all  factional  entanglements, 
he  was  finally  accepted  by  all,  and  the  organization, 
which  was  then  supreme  in  the  mastery  of  the  party, 
was  thoroughly  united  in  the  assurance  to  Knox  that 
he  would  be  elected  by  the  next  Legislature  without  a 
contest.  Knox  greatly  preferred  to  continue  in  the 
line  of  his  profession,  as  he  had  no  taste  for,  or  experi- 
ence in,  political  management,  but  he  finally  decided 
to  accept  the  new  position  when  his  election  by  the 
next  Legislature  was  fully  assured. 

The  Governor  was  then  placed  in  a  very  embar- 
rassing position,  as  the  strict  letter  of  the  fundamental 
law  required  that  he  should  summon  the  Legislature 
to  chose  a  Senator,  but  that  involved  the  expenditure 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  to  accomplish  what 
could  be  readily  attained  without  the  intervention  of 
the  Legislature,  and  the  Governor  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility, that  would  doubtless  have  been  questioned 
under  ordinary  conditions,  of  appointing  Knox  as 
United  States  Senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  made  by  the 
death  of  Quay.  Governor  Stone  had  appointed  Quay 
to  a  vacancy  in  1899,  when  the  Legislature  had  ad- 
journed without  choosing  a  Senator  after  a  protracted 
and  bitter  contest  between  Quay  and  his  political 
enemies,  and  the  Senate  refused  his  admission  by  a 
single  vote.  The  appointment  of  Knox,  however,  was 
in  such  entire  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  party 
and  its  organization  that  he  was  admitted  to  the  Sen- 
ate, on  the  Governor's  commission,  without  question, 
and  his  election  for  the  few  weeks  of  Quay's  unexpired 
term,  and  also  for  the  full  succeeding  term,  was  given 
by  a  unanimous  Republican  vote. 

At  the  election  of  1904,  Pennsylvania  voted  Republi- 
can by  nearly  a  two-thirds  vote.  The  Democrats  ap- 
parently ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  Pennsylvania  politics. 


628 


Old  Time  Notes 


This  was  accepted  by  the  Republican  leaders  as  an 
indefinite  lease  of  absolute  political  domination,  un- 
mindful of  the  fact  that  not  only  in  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, but  throughout  the  State,  there  was  profound 
unrest  within  the  Republican  household  that  might 
be  easily  provoked  to  revolutionary  action.  The  first 
distinct  murmurs  of  discontent  were  heard  in  Phila- 
delphia when  the  leaders,  many  of  whom  were  interested 
in  municipal  contracts  involving  many  millions,  first 
decided  to  increase  largely  the  property  assessments 
for  the  twofold  purpose  of  enlarging  the  revenue  with- 
out increasing  the  tax  rate,  and  to  empower  the  city 
to  increase  its  loans.  This  movement  caused  consid- 
erable public  irritation,  and  when  it  was  followed  by  a 
proposition  to  extend  the  lease  of  the  gas  works  for 
half  a  century  to  bring  twenty-five  millions  of 
money  into  the  treasury,  and  thus  warrant  the 
completion  of  the  immense  contracts  for  filtra- 
tion, boulevards,  etc.,  a  popular  uprising,  unexam- 
pled in  the  history  of  the  city,  confronted  the  party 
leaders. 

The  public  revolt  was  not  so  much  against  the  lease 
of  the  gas  works,  for  the  terms  of  the  lease  might 
reasonably  be  considered  quite  as  favorable  to  the  city 
as  to  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company  that  pro- 
posed to  become  the  lessee,  but  the  fact  that  the  lease 
was  to  be  made  solely  to  obtain  twenty-five  millions  of 
money  to  be  expended  in  contracts  which  were  gener- 
ally regarded  as  profligate,  and  alleged  by  many  to 
lack  the  important  element  of  honesty,  intensified  the 
already  inflamed  public  mind  to  the  most  determined 
and  desperate  revolutionary  efforts.  Mayor  Weaver, 
who  was  assumed  to  be  in  accord  with  the  organization 
that  elected  him  chief  magistrate,  became  gradually 
estranged  from  the  party  leaders,  and  they  decided 


Of  Pennsylvania 


629 


upon  heroic  retributive  measures,  involving  the  passage 
of  what  is  known  as  the  "  Ripper"  bills,  greatly  limiting 
the  power  of  the  mayor,  and  his  threatened  impeach- 
ment and  removal  from  office. 

So  general  and  inflammatory  was  the  revolutionary 
feeling  that  it  threatened  even  mob  violence  to  the 
councils  when  they  were  to  act  upon  important 
measures  on  which  the  leaders  and  the  mayor  were  at 
issue.  The  councils  finally  bowed  to  the  omnipotent 
sentiment  that  environed  them  and  gave  implicit 
obedience  to  the  demands  of  the  mayor,  unanimously 
approving  the  displacement  of  the  friends  of  the 
leaders  in  the  mayor's  cabinet  and  the  selection  of 
persons  who  were  aggressive  in  their  hostility.  The 
councils  even  went  so  far  as  to  repeal  the  assent  of  the 
city  to  a  number  of  rural  railroad  franchises,  although 
the  franchises  had  been  granted  by  the  State,  simply 
assented  to  by  the  city,  and  issued  in  full  conformity 
with  the  law. 

A  full  city  ticket  for  the  important  officers  of  sheriff, 
coroner  and  city  commissioners  had  been  nominated 
by  the  leaders  early  in  the  year,  and  when  those  nomi- 
nations were  made,  the  election  of  the  men  named  was 
regarded  as  absolutely  assured  without  a  contest,  but 
when  the  revolutionary  tempest  struck  them,  the 
leaders  were  compelled  to  withdraw  the  entire  ticket 
and  try  to  temper  the  violence  of  the  opposition  by 
presenting  new  candidates  with  the  cleanest  records. 
The  atonement  was  made  too  late,  however,  and  an 
independent  ticket  swept  the  city  by  nearly  forty- 
five  thousand  majority. 

There  was  but  one  State  officer  to  elect,  that  of  State 
treasurer.  J.  Lee  Plummer,  of  Blair  County,  chairman 
of  appropriations  and  Republican  leader  of  the  House, 


630  Old  Time  Notes 


was  nominated  for  State  treasurer  without  serious 
opposition,  and  at  the  time  the  nomination  was  made 
there  was  not  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of  RepubHcan 
unity.  The  Democrats  nominated  WilHam  H.  Berry, 
mayor  of  Chester,  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  people 
of  that  strong  Republican  city  because  of  his  well 
known  integrity,  business  qualities  and  courage  in 
discharging  public  duties.  The  death  of  Justice  Dean 
made  a  vacancy  in  the  supreme  court  to  be  filled  by 
the  Governor  until  next  January,  and  added  another 
State  officer  to  be  chosen  by  the  people. 

The  Independent  revolution  had  just  fairly  started 
when  this  vacancy  occurred.  The  Republicans  wisely 
decided  to  temper  the  hostility  of  the  Independents 
in  both  city  and  State  by  nominating  Judge  John 
Stewart,  of  Franklin,  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  supreme 
court.  Stewart  was  as  conspicuous  in  political  inde- 
pendence and  integrity  in  the  Republican  party  as 
Berry  was  in  a  much  narrower  circle  in  the  Democratic 
party,  and  the  Democrats  seized  the  opportunity  to 
invite  the  independent  Republicans  to  support  a 
thoroughly  independent  Democratic  candidate  for 
State  treasurer  by  giving  Judge  Stewart  a  unanimous 
nomination  for  supreme  judge.  Independent  local 
nominations  were  made  by  the  City  party,  the  Lincoln 
party,  the  Citizens  party,  and  the  Independence  party, 
but  all,  with  the  exception  of  the  Citizens  party,  which 
was  confined  almost  wholly  to  Pittsburg,  united  in  the 
support  of  Berry,  the  Democratic  candidate  for  State 
treasurer,  and  the  result  was  the  election  of  Berry  by 
over  eighty-eight  thousand.  The  following  table 
shows  the  revolution  in  Pennsylvania  by  a  comparison 
of  the  vote  for  President  in  1904  and  the  vote  for  State 
treasurer  in  1905: 


of  Pennsylvania 


631 


President — 1904. 


Roosevelt,  R   840,949 

Parker,  D   335  A3° 

Swallow,  Pro   33.7 1 7 

Debs,  Soc   21,863 


Total  vote    1,231,959 

Republican  plurality  505,519 
Republican  majority  449,939 


State  Treasurer — 1905. 

Berry,  D   546,892 

Plummer,  R   458,698 

Ringler,  Soc   10,390 

Drugmand,  S.  Labor  .  .  1,622 

Scattering   68 


Total  vote   1,017,670 

Democratic  plurality  88,194 
Democratic  ma j  ority  76,114 


It  will  be  seen  that  the  total  vote  for  State  treasurer 
was  over  one  million,  being  entirely  unexampled  in  any 
off  year  conflict,  and  the  manner  in  which  parties  were 
divided  up  is  best  exhibited  by  the  following: 

Judge  Stewart's  Vote  for  1905. 

Republican   515,249        Independence   17,808 

Democrat   236,540       Citizens  ,   34,160 

Prohibition   38,839       Lincoln   116,758 

Judge  Stewart  thus  received  959,054  votes,  being 
the  only  supreme  judge  ever  chosen  by  a  practically 
unanimous  vote.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  the 
exact  Democratic  vote  and  the  exact  Republican  vote 
polled,  in  the  general  confusion  of  parties,  but  taking 
the  average  Republican  vote  of  610,394,  given  for 
Governor  Beaver's  re-election  to  the  superior  court, 
and  the  vote  of  305,218,  given  to  John  B.  Head,  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  the  superior  court,  doubtless 
gives  the  nearest  possible  approximation  to  the 
strength  of  the  two  parties,  showing  an  apparent  Re- 
publican majority  of  about  three  hundred  thousand. 
One  of  the  notable  incidents  of  the  campaign  is  the  fact 
that  Judge  Stewart  and  ex-Governor  Beaver  were  both 
on  the  Republican  State  ticket,  Stewart  for  supreme 
judge  and  Beaver  for  the  superior  court.  In  1882, 
Beaver  was  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor 


632 


Old  Time  Notes 


and  was  defeated  by  Stewart's  Independent  Republi- 
can candidacy  for  the  same  office. 

Such  are  the  strangely  conflicting  political  records 
of  1904  and  1905,  and  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be 
a  reforming  of  the  political  lines  to  enable  the  Republi- 
can party  to  unite  in  the  support  of  candidates  for 
Governor,  Congressmen,  Legislators,  etc.,  at  the  fall 
election  of  1906.    What  will  the  harvest  be? 


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